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THE NORMANS 



THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 



THE NORMANS 

TOLD CHIEFLY IN RELATION TO THEIR CON- 
QUEST OF ENGLAND 



BY 
SARAH ORNE JEWETT 



NEW YORK 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN 
1898 






52504 



Copyright. 1886 

BV 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Ube lRnfcfeerbocfeer press, Ittew l^orfe 



TO 

MY DEAR GRANDFATHER 

Doctor WILLIAM PERRY, of Exeter 



CONTENTS. 



The Men of the Dragon Ships . . . 1-29 
The ancient Northmen, 1-3 — Manner of life, 4-6 — Hall- 
life and hospitality, 7 — Sagamen, 8 — Sea-kings and vikings, 
9— Charlemagne and the vikings, II — Viking voyages and 
settlements, 12-22 — The Northmen in France, 23-27 — Mod- 
ern inheritance from the Northmen, 28. 

II. 

Rolf the Ganger ...... 3°~5 I 

Harold Haarfager, 30— Jarl Rognwald, 32— Rolf's outlawry, 
33 — Charles the Simple, 35 — The Archbishop of Rouen, 37 
— Hasting, 38 — Siege of Bayeux, 40 — Rolf's character, 41 
— The founding of Normandy, 43 — The king's grant, 45 — 
Rolf's christening, 46 — Law and order, 48 — Rolf's death, 50, 

III. 

William Longsword 52—65 

French influences ; Charlemagne ; Charles the Fat, 52-54 — 
Feudalism, 55 — The Franks, 55 — Norman loyalty to France, 
57 — Longsvvord's politics, 60 — The Bayeux Northmen, 61 
— Longsword's love of the cloister, 63 — Longsword's char- 
acter, 64. 

IV. 

Richard the Fearless ..... 66-89 

Longsword's son, 66 — A Norman castle, 67 — News of 
Longsword's death, 69 — His funeral, 70 — Richard made 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

duke, 70— The guardianship of Louis of France, 72 — De- 
tention of Richard and escape from Laon, 73-75 — Hugh of 
Paris, 76 — Louis at Rouen, 77 — Norman plots, So — Harold 
Blaatand, 81 — Normandy against France, 82 — Indepen- 
dence of Normandy, 84 — Normandy and England, 85— Ger- 
berga, 85 — Alliance with Hugh of Paris; with Hugh Capet, 
86-88— Death of Richard, 89. 

V. 
Duke Richard the Good .... 90-114 
Richard the Good's succession, 90— French influences, 91 
— Lack of records, 91 — Prosperity of the duchy, 92 — Rich- 
ard's love of courtliness and splendor, 92 — Wrongs of the 
common people ; their complaint, 93-95— Raoul of Ivry, 
96 — The Flemish colony ; the Falaise fair ; Richard's 
brother William, 97, 98 — Robert of France, 99— Richard's' 
marriage, 101 — /Ethelred the Unready, 102 — The Danes in 
England, 103 — Emma of Normandy, 105 ; Trouble with 
Burgundy, 107 — The lands of Dreux, 109 — The Count- 
Bishop of Chalons, no ; Norman chroniclers, 112 — Ermen- 
oldus ; the third Richard and his murder, 112-114. 

VI. 
Robert the Magnificent . . 1 15-129 

Power and wealth of Normandy, 115 — The English princes, 
118 — Cnut of England and Queen Emma, 119— Robert's 
lavishness ; Baldwin of Flanders, 120-122 — The tanner's 
daughter, 122 — Norman pride and Robert's defiance of pub- 
lic opinion, 124 — Robert's pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 125 
— His death at Nicsea, 129. 

VII. 

The Normans in Italy .... 130-148 

Hasting the pirate, 130 — Early Norman colonies in the 
south of Europe, 132 — The Norman character, 134 — Tan- 
cred de Hauteville, 135 — Serlon de Hauteville, 136 — Sicily, 
139 — Pope Leo the Tenth, 140 — Robert Guiscard, 141 — 
Rapid progress of the Norman-Italian States and their 
prosperity, 142 — Norman architecture in Sicily, 145. 



CONTENTS. IX 

VIII. 

PAGE 

The Youth of William the Conqueror . 149-170 
Typical character of William, 149 — Loneliness of his child- 
hood, 151 — William de Talvas, 152 — The feudal system, 
153— Christianity and knighthood, 156 — Ceremonies at the 
making of a knight, 157 — The oaths of knighthood, 161 — 
The Truce of God, 166-170. 

IX. 

Across the Channel .... 171-194 

Changes in England, 171 — ^Ethelred, 172 — The Danegelt, 
173 — The Danes again, 175 — Swegen, 177 — Cnut, 178 — 
Eadmund Ironside, 180 — Cnut's pilgrimage, 181 — Godwine, 
184 — Eadward the Confessor, 187 — The Dover quarrel, 189 
— Normans in England, 192 — Castles, 193. 



The Battle of Val-es-Dunes . . . 195-214 

Roger de Toesny, 196 — William's boyhood, 198 — Escape 
from Valognes, 199 — The Lord of Rye, 200 — Guy of Bur- 
gundy, 201 — Rebellion, 202 — Val-es-Dunes, 204 — Ralph of 
Tesson, 206 — Neal of St. Saviour, 208 — William's leniency, 
211 — His mastery, 213 — The siege of Alencon, 213. 

XL 

The Abbey of Bec ..... 215-231 

Cloistermen, 215 — Soldiery and scholarship, 216 — Building 
of religious houses, 218 — Cathedrals, 220 — Benedictines, 
222 — Herluin and his abbey, 223 — Lanfranc, 226 — His 
influence in Normandy, 229. 

XII. 

Matilda of Flanders .... 232-254 
Flanders, 232 — Objections to William's marriage, 234 — 
Marriage of William and Matilda at Eu, 236 — Mauger, 237 
— Rebuilding of churches, 239 — William's early visit to 
England, 242 — Godwine's return, 244 — His death, 245 — 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Jealousy of France, 246 — The French invasion of Nor- 
mandy, 247 — Battle of Mortemer, 248 — The curfew bell, 
251 — Battle of Varaville, 252 — Harold of England's visit, 
254- 

XIII. 

Harold the Englishman . . . 255-274 

Causes and effects of war, 255 — Relations of William and 
Harold, 256 — Harold's unfitness as a leader of the English, 
257 — His shipwreck on the coast of Ponthieu, 260 — Wil- 
liam's palace in Rouen, 261 — News of Harold's imprison- 
ment by Guy of Ponthieu, 262 — Harold's release, 264 — His 
life in Normandy, 265 — His oath, 267 — Eadward's last ill- 
ness, 269 — Harold named as successor, 272. 

XIV. 

News from England .... 275-294 

Harold made king, 275 — William hears the news, 276 — 
The Normans begin to plan for war, 278 — William's em- 
bassy, 280 — The council at Lillebonne, 280 — The barons 
hold back, 282 — Lanfranc's influence at Rome, 286 — Tos- 
tig, 287 — Harold's army, 290 — Harold Hardrada, 291- 
The battle of Stamford Bridge, 293. 

XV. 

The Battle of Hastings .... 295-311 

Normandy makes ready for war, 295 — The army at St. 
Valery, 297 — William crosses the Channel, 298 — The camp 
at Hastings, 300 — Harold of England, 302 — Senlac, 304 — 
The battle array, 306 — The great fight, 308 — The Norman 
victory, 310. 

XVI. 

William the Conqueror .... 312-344 

Norman characteristics, 312 — William's coronation, 314 — 
His plan of government, 316 — Return to Normandy, 320— 
Caen, 322 — The Bayeux tapestry, 323 — Matilda crowned 



CONTENTS. xi 

I'AGE 

queen, 325 — Difficulties of government, 327 — The English 
forests, 330 — Decay of learning in Eadward's time, 331 — 
William's laws against slavery, 332 — His son Robert, 333 — 
The queen's death, 335 — Odo's plot, 335 — William's injury 
at Mantes, 337 — His illness and death, 339 — Description 
from Roman de Roti, 341. 

XVII. 

Kingdom and Dukedom .... 345~358 
William Rufus, 345 — Robert of Normandy, 346 — William 
Rufus in England, 349 — Duke Robert goes on pilgrimage, 
351 — Murder of William Rufus, 353 — Henry Beauclerc 
seizes the English crown, 355 — Death of Prince William, 
358. 

XVIII. 

Conclusion ...... 359~~366 

Development of Norman character, 360 — Northern influ- 
ences, 362 — The great inheritance, 365. 



?*-*&jGj 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. FALAISE. 

Frontispiece 



MAP EUROPE AT CLOSE OK ELEVENTH C 

IRON SPEAR AND CHISEL 

VIKING SHIP . 

ViKING .... 

NORSE BUCKLE 

NORWEGIAN FIORD 

FLAILS AS MILITARY WEAPONS 

ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN. (ROUEN) 

QUEEN EMMA OR /ELFGIFU 

NORMAN COSTUMES 

ROBERT, DUKE OF NORMANDY, CARRIED 

TER TO JERUSALEM 
NORMAN PLOUGHMAN 
ARMING A KNIGHT .... 
CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD 
KING CNUT ..... 
DOORWAY OF CATHEDRAL, CHARTRES 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
CRYPT OF MOUNT ST. MICHEL 

xiii 



ENTURY 



IN A LIT 



OF BATTLE 



I 

5 

17 

21 
31 

77 

37 

io 5 
117 

127 

153 

157 

167 

179 
217 
221 
241 



XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

NORMAN ARCHER ... 

GUY, COUNT OF PONTHIEU 

MOUNT ST. MICHEL .... 

OLD HOUSES, DOL 

FUNERAL OF EADWARD THE CONFESSOR.. 
STIGAND, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 
MAP — NORMANDY IN 1066 

MAP ENGLAND ..... 

NORMAN VESSEL ..... 

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 

NORMAN MINSTREL .... 

SOLDIER IN CLOAK ..... 

ATH OF HAROLD .... 

RMAN LADY . 

TTLE-AXES . 
ODO. BISHOP OF BAYEUX 



PAG ft 

2 53 

2 59 
263 

26 

27 

277 

281 

289 

297 

301 

3°5 
309 

3 2 5 
326 

3 2 9 
335 



The ten illustrations in this volume which are from designs by 
Thomas Macquoid, have been reproduced (through the courtesy of 
Messrs. Chatto & Windus) from Mrs. Macquoid's "Pictures and 
Legends from Normandy and Brittany," the American edition of 
which was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. 




DUKES OF THE NORMANS. 

ROLF, 

First Duke of the Normans, 

r. 911-927. 

I 
WILLIAM 

LONGSWORD, 
r. 927-943. 

I 

RICHARD 

THE FEARLESS, 

r. 943-99°- 

I 



RICHARD 

THE GOOD, 
r. 996-IO26. 



I 

Emma, 

m. 1. ^Ethelred II. 

of England ; 

m. 2. Cnut of England 

and Denmark. 



RICHARD III. 
r. 1026-1028. 



ROBERT 

THE MAGNIFICENT, 

r. 1028-1035. 

I 

WILLIAM 

THE CONQUEROR, 

r. 1035-1087. 

I 



ROBERT II., 

r. 1 08 7- 1 096 
(from 1096 to 1100 
the Duchy was 
held by his 
brother William), 
and 1100-1106 
(when he was over- 
thrown at Tinche- 
brai by his 
brother Henry). 



I 
WILLIAM 

RUFUS, 

r. 1096-1100. 



HENRY I., 
r. 1106-1135. 

I 

Matilda 
m. GEOFFRY 

COUNT OF 

ANJOU 

AND 

MAINE 

(who won the 
Duchy from 

Stephen). 

HENRY II., 

invested with the 

Duchy, 1 1 50, 

d. 1189. 

i 



I 
Adela, 
m. Stephen, 
Count of Bloi.^ 

I 
STEPHEN 

OF BLOIS, 

s. H35- 



RICHARD 

THE LION-HEART, 

r. 1189-1199. 



JOHN, 
r. 1199-1204 

(when Normandy 

was conquered 

by France). 



THE 

STORY OF THE NORMANS. 



i. 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 

" Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, 

Survey our empire and behold our home." — Byron. 

The gulf stream flows so near to the southern 
coast of Norway, and to the Orkneys and Western 
Islands, that their climate is much less severe than 
might be supposed. Yet no one can help wonder- 
ing why they were formerly so much more populous 
than now, and why the people who came westward 
even so long ago as the great Aryan migration, did 
not persist in turning aside to the more fertile coun- 
tries that lay farther southward. In spite of all their 
disadvantages, the Scandinavian peninsula, and the 
sterile islands of the northern seas, were inhabited 
by men and women whose enterprise and intelli- 
gence ranked them above their neighbors. 

Now, with the modern case of travel and trans- 
portation, these poorer countries can be supplied 
from other parts of the world. And though the 

i 



2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

summers of Norway are misty and dark and short, 
and it is difficult to raise even a little hay on the bits 
of meadow among the rocky mountain slopes, com- 
merce can make up for all deficiencies. In early 
times there was no commerce except that carried 
on by the pirates — if we may dignify their under- 
takings by such a respectable name, — and it was 
hardly possible to make a living from the soil 
alone. The sand dunes of Denmark and the cliffs 
of Norway alike gave little encouragement to tillers 
of the ground, yet, in defiance of all our ideas of suc- 
cessful colonization, when the people of these coun- 
tries left them, it was at first only to form new set- 
tlements in such places as Iceland, or the Faroe or 
Orkney islands and stormiest Hebrides. But it does 
not take us long to discover that the ancient North- 
men were not farmers, but hunters and fishermen. 
It had grown more and more difficult to find food 
along the rivers and broad grassy wastes of inland 
Europe, and pushing westward they had at last 
reached the place where they could live beside wa- 
ters that swarmed with fish and among hills that 
sheltered plenty of game. 

Besides this they had been obliged not only to 
make the long journey by slow degrees, but to fight 
their way and to dispossess the people who were al- 
ready established. There is very little known of 
these earlier dwellers in the east and north of Eu- 
rope, except that they were short of stature and 
dark-skinned, that they were cave dwellers, and, in 
successive stages of development, used stone and 
bronze and iron tools and weapons. Many relics of 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 3 

their home-life and of their warfare have been dis- 
covered and preserved in museums, and there are 
evidences of the descent of a small proportion of 
modern Europeans from that remote ancestry. The 
Basques of the north of Spain speak a different lan- 
guage and wear a different look from any of the sur- 
rounding people, and even in Great Britain there are 
some survivors of an older race of humanity, which 
the fairer-haired Celts of Southern Europe and Teu- 
tons of Northern Europe have never been able in the 
great natural war of races to wholly exterminate and 
supplant. Many changes and minglings of the in- 
habitants of these countries, long establishment of 
certain tribes, and favorable or unfavorable condi- 
tions of existence have made the nations of Europe 
differ widely from each other at the present day, but 
they are believed to have come from a common 
stock, and certain words of the Sanscrit language 
can be found repeated not only in Persian and In- 
dian speech to-day, but in English and Greek and 
Latin and German, and many dialects that have 
been formed from these. 

The tribes that settled in the North grew in time 
to have many peculiarities of their own, and as their 
countries grew more and more populous, they needed 
more things that could not easily be had, and a fash- 
ion of plundering their neighbors began to prevail. 
Men were still more or less beasts of prey. Invaders 
must be kept out, and at last much of the industry 
of Scandinavia was connected with the carrying on 
of an almost universal fighting and marauding. 
Ships must be built, and there must be cndleLj 



4 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

supplies of armor and weapons. Stones were easily 
collected for missiles or made fit for arrows and 
spear-heads, and metals were worked with great 
care. In Norway and Sweden were the best places 
to find all these, and if the Northmen planned to 
fight a great battle, they had to transport a huge 
quantity of stones, iron, and bronze. It is easy to 
see why one day's battle was almost always decisive 
in ancient times, for supplies could not be quickly 
forwarded from point to point, and after the arrows 
were all shot and the conquered were chased off the 
field, they had no further means of offence except 
a hand-to-hand fight with those who had won the 
right to pick up the fallen spears at their leisure. 
So, too, an unexpected invasion was likely to prove 
successful ; it Avas a work of time to get ready for a 
battle, and when the Northmen swooped down upon 
some shore town of Britain or Gaul, the unlucky citi- 
zens were at- their mercy. And while the Northmen 
had fish and game and were mighty hunters, and 
their rocks and mines helped forward their warlike 
enterprises, so the forests supplied them with ship 
timber, and they gained renown as sailors wherever 
their fame extended. 

There was a great difference, however, between 
the manner of life in Norway and that of England 
or France. The Norwegian stone, however useful 
for arrow-heads or axes, was not fit for building 
purposes. There is hardly any clay there, either, 
to make bricks with, so that wood has usually been 
the only material for houses. In the Southern coun- 
tries there had always been rude castles in which 




IRON CHISEL FOUND IN AAMOT 
PARISH, OESTERDALEN. 




IRON POINT OF A SPEAR WI'IH INLAID WORK OF SILVER, 
FOUND AT NESNE, IN NORDLAND. 



6 THE STORY OF THE NORM A MS. 

the people could shelter themselves, but the North- 
men could build no castles that a torch could not 
destroy. They trusted much more to their ships 
than to their houses, and some of their great cap- 
tains disdained to live on shore at all. 

There is something refreshing in the stories of old 
Norse life ; of its simplicity and freedom and child- 
ish zest. An old writer says that they had " a hank- 
ering after pomp and pageantry," and by means of 
this they came at last to doing things decently and 
in order, and to setting the fashions for the rest of 
Europe. There was considerable dignity in the 
manner of every-day life and housekeeping. Their 
houses were often very large, even two hundred 
feet long, with the flaring fires on a pavement 
in the middle of the floor, and the beds built next 
the walls on three sides, sometimes hidden by wide 
tapestries or foreign cloth that had been brought 
home in the viking ships. In front of the beds were 
benches where each man had his seat and footstool, 
with his armor and weapons hung high on the wall 
above. The master of the house had a high seat on 
the north side in the middle of a long bench ; oppo- 
site was another bench for guests and strangers, 
while the women sat on the third side. The roof 
was high, there were a few windows in it, and those 
were covered by thin skins and let in but little light. 
The smoke escaped through openings in the carved, 
soot-blackened roof, and though in later times the 
rich men's houses were more like villages, because 
they made groups of smaller buildings for store- 
houses, for guest-rooms, or for workshops all around, 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 7 

still, the idea of this primitive great hall or living-room 
has not even yet been lost. The later copies of it in 
England and France that still remain are most inter- 
esting; but what a fine sight it must have been at 
night when the great fires blazed and the warriors 
sat on their benches in solemn order, and the skalds 
recited their long sagas, of the host's own bravery 
or the valiant deeds of his ancestors ! Hospitality 
was almost made chief among the virtues. There 
was a Norwegian woman named Geirrid who went 
from Heligoland to Iceland and settled there. She 
built her house directly across the public road, and 
used to sit in the doorway on a little bench and in- 
vite all travellers to come in and refresh themselves 
from a table that always stood ready, spread with 
food. She was not the only one, either, who gave 
herself up to such an exaggerated idea of the duties 
of a housekeeper. 

When a distinguished company of guests was 
present, the pleasures of the evening were made 
more important. Listening to the sagas was the 
best entertainment that could be offered. " These 
productions were of very ancient origin and entirely 
foreign to those countries where the Latin language 
prevailed. They had little or nothing to do with 
either chronology or general history ; but were lim- 
ited to the traditions of some heroic families, relat- 
ing their deeds and adventures in a style that was 
always simple and sometimes poetic. These compo- 
sitions, in verse or prose, were the fruit of a wild 
Northern genius. They were evolved without mod- 
els, and disappeared at last without imitations ; and 



S THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

it is most remarkable that in the island of Iceland, of 
which the name alone is sufficient hint of its frightful 
climate, and where the very name of poet has al- 
most become a wonder, — in this very island the 
skalds (poets) have produced innumerable sagas and 
other compositions during a space of time which 
covers the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth cen- 
turies." * 

The court poets or those attached to great fam- 
ilies were most important persons, and were treated 
with great respect and honor. No doubt, they often 
fell into the dangers of either flattery or scandal, but 
they were noted for their simple truthfulness. We 
cannot help feeling such an atmosphere in those 
sagas that still exist, but the world has always been 
very indulgent towards poetry that captivates the 
imagination. Doubtless, nobody expected that a 
skald should always limit himself to the part of a lit- 
eral narrator. They were the makers and keepers of 
legends and literature in their own peculiar form of 
history, and as to worldly position, ranked much 
higher than the later minstrels and troubadours or 
trouveres who wandered about France. 

When we remember the scarcity and value of 
parchment even in the Christianized countries of the 
South, it is a great wonder that so many sagas were 
written down and preserved ; while there must have 
been a vast number of others that existed only in 
tradition and in the memories of those who learned 
them in each generation. 

If we try to get the story of the Northmen from 
* Depping: " Mantimes Voyages des Normands." 



THE MEAT OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. Q 

the French or British chronicler, it is one long, dreary- 
complaint of their barbarous customs and their hea- 
then religion. In England the monks, shut up in 
their monasteries, could find nothing bad enough to 
say about the marauders who ravaged the shores of 
the country and did so much mischief. If we believe 
them, we shall mistake the Norwegians and their 
companions for wild beasts and heathen savages. 
We must read what was written in their own lan- 
guage, and then we shall have more respect for the 
vikings and sea-kings, always distinguishing between 
these two ; for, while any peasant who wished could 
be a viking — a sea-robber — a sea-king was a king in- 
deed, and must be connected with the royal race of 
the country. He received the title of king by right 
as soon as he took command of a ship's crew, though 
he need not have any land or kingdom. Vikings 
were merely pirates ; they might be peasants and 
vikings by turn, and won their name from the inlets, 
the viks or wicks, where they harbored their ships. 
A sea-king must be a viking, but naturally very few 
of the vikings were sea-kings. 

When we turn from the monks' records, written 
in Latin, to the accounts given of themselves by the 
Northmen, in their own languages, we are surprised 
enough to find how these ferocious pagans, these 
merciless men, who burnt the Southern churches 
and villages, and plundered and killed those of the 
inhabitants whom they did not drag away into slav- 
ery, — how these Northmen really surpassed their 
enemies in literature, as much as in military achieve- 
ments. Their laws and government, their history 



IO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and poetry and social customs, were better than those 
of the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks. 

If we stop to think about this, we see that it 
would be impossible for a few hundred men to land 
from their great row-boats and subdue wide tracts of 
country unless they were superior in mental power, 
and gifted with astonishing quickness and bravery. 
The great leaders of armies are not those who can 
lift the heaviest weights or strike the hardest blow, 
but those who have the mind to plan and to organ- 
ize and discipline and, above all, to persevere and be 
ready to take a dangerous risk. The countries to 
the southward were tamed and spiritless, and bound 
down by church influence and superstition until they 
had lost the energy and even the intellectual power 
of their ancestors five centuries back. The Roman 
Empire had helped to change the Englishmen and 
many of the Frenchmen of that time into a popula- 
tion of slaves and laborers, with no property in the 
soil, nothing to fight for but their own lives. 

The viking had rights in his own country, and 
knew what it was to enjoy those rights ; if he could 
win more land, he would know how to govern it, 
and he knew what he was fighting for and meant to 
win. If we wonder why all this energy was spent 
on the high seas, and in strange countries, there are 
two answers : first, that fighting was the natural 
employment of the men, and that no right could be 
held that could not be defended ; but beside this, 
one form of their energy was showing itself at home 
in rude attempts at literature. It is surprising 
enough to find that both the quality and the quan- 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. II 

tity of the old sagas far surpass all that can be 
found of either Latin or English writing of that time 
in England. These sagas are all in the familiar 
tongue, so that everybody could understand them, 
and be amused or taught by them. They were 
not meant only for the monks and the people who 
lived in cloisters. The legends of their ancestors' 
beauty or bravery belonged to every man alike, and 
that made the Norwegians one nation of men, work- 
ing and sympathizing with each other — not a mere 
herd of individuals. 

The more that we know of the Northmen, the 
more we are convinced how superior they were in 
their knowledge of the useful arts to the people 
whom they conquered. There is a legend that 
when Charlemagne, in the ninth century, saw some 
pirate ships cruising in the Mediterranean, along 
the shores of which they had at last found their 
way, he covered his face and burst into tears. He 
was not so much afraid of their cruelty and barbar- 
ism as of their civilization. Nobody knew better 
that none of the Christian countries under his rule 
had ships or men that could make such a daring 
voyage. He knew that they were skilful workers in 
wood and iron, and had learned to be rope-makers 
and weavers ; that they could make casks for their 
supply of drinking-water, and understood how to 
prepare food for their long cruises. All their 
swords and spears and bow-strings had to be made 
and kept in good condition, and sheltered from the 
sea-spray. 

It is interesting to remember that the Northmen's 



12 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

fleets were not like a royal navy, though the king 
could claim the use of all the war-ships when he 
needed them for the country's service. They were 
fitted out by anybody who chose, private adven- 
turers and peasants, all along the rocky shores. 
They were not very grand affairs for the most part, 
but they were all seaworthy, and must have had a 
good deal of room for stowing all the things that 
were to be carried, beside the vikings themselves. 
Sometimes there were transport vessels to take the 
arms and the food and bring back the plunder. 
Perhaps most of the peasants' boats were only thirty 
or forty feet long, but when we remember how 
many hundreds used to put to sea after the small 
crops were planted every summer, we cannot help 
knowing that there were a great many men who 
knew how to build strong ships in Norway, and how 
to fit them out sufficiently well, and man them and 
fight in them afterward. You never hear of any 
fleets being fitted out in the French and English 
harbors equalling these in numbers or efficiency. 

When we picture the famous sea-kings' ships to 
ourselves, we do not wonder that the Northmen 
were so proud of them, or that the skalds were 
never tired of recounting their glories. There were 
two kinds of vessels : the last-ships, that carried car- 
goes; and the long-ships, or ships-of-war. Listen to 
the splendors of the " Long Serpent," which was 
the largest ship ever built in Norway. A dragon- 
ship, to begin with, because all the long ships had a 
dragon for a figure-head, except the smallest of 
them, which were called cutters, and only carried 



% i lit ?'*pp|;1 1 




14 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ten or twenty rowers on a side. The " Long Ser- 
pent " had thirty-four rowers' benches on a side, and 
she was a hundred and eleven feet long. Over the 
sides were hung the shining red and white shields 
of the vikings, the gilded dragon's head towered 
high at the prow, and at the stern a gilded tail went 
curling off over the head of the steersman. Then, 
from the long body, the heavy oars swept forward 
and back through the water, the double thirty-four 
of them, and as it came down the fiord, the " Long 
Serpent " must have looked like some enormous cen- 
tipede creeping out of its den on an awful errand, 
and heading out across the rough water toward its 
prey. 

The crew used to sleep on the deck, and ship- 
tents were necessary for shelter. There was no deep 
hold or comfortable cabin, for the ships were built 
so that they could be easily hauled up on a sloping 
beach. They had sails, and these were often made of 
gay colors, or striped with red and blue and white 
cloths, and a great many years later than this we 
hear of a crusader waiting long for a fair wind at the 
Straits of the Dardanelles, so that he could set all 
his fine sails, and look splendid as he went by the 
foreign shores. 

To-day in Bergen harbor, in Norway, you are 
likely to see at least one or two Norland ships that 
belong to the great fleet that bring down furs and 
dried fish every year from Hammerfest and Trond- 
hjem and the North Cape. They do not carry the 
red and white shields, or rows of long oars, but they 
are built with high prow and stern, and spread a great 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. I 5 

square brown sail. You are tempted to think that 
a belated company of vikings has just come into 
port after a long cruise. These descendants of the 
long-ships and the last-ships look little like peaceful 
merchantmen, as they go floating solemnly along the 
calm waters of the Bergen-fiord. 

The voyages were often disastrous in spite of much 
clever seamanship. They knew nothing of the mari- 
ner's compass, and found their way chiefly by the aid 
of the stars — inconstant pilots enough on such foggy, 
stormy seas. They carried birds too, oftenest ravens, 
and used to let them loose and follow them toward 
the nearest land. The black raven was the vikings' 
favorite symbol for their flags, and familiar enough 
it became in other harbors than their own. They 
were bold, hardy fellows, and held fast to a rude 
code of honor and rank of knighthood. To join 
the most renowned company of vikings in Harold 
Haarfager's time, it was necessary that the champion 
should lift a great stone that lay before the king's 
door, as first proof that he was worth initiating. 
We are gravely told that this stone could not be 
moved by the strength of twelve ordinary men. 

They were obliged to take oath that they would not 
capture women and children, or seek refuge during 
a tempest, or stop to dress their wounds before a 
battle was over. Sometimes they were possessed by 
a strange madness, caused either by a frenzy of rivalry 
and the wild excitement of their rude sports or by 
intoxicating liquors or drugs, when they foamed at 
the mouth and danced wildly about, swallowing burn- 
ing coals, uprooting the very rocks and trees, destroy- 



1 6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ing their own property, and striking indiscriminately 
-nt friends and foes. This berserker rage seems to 
have been much applauded, and gained the possessed 
viking a noble distinction in the eyes of his com. 
panions. If a sea-king heard of a fair damsel any- 
where along the neighboring coast, he simply took 
ship in that direction, fought for her, and carried her 
away in triumph with as many of her goods as he 
was lucky enough to seize beside. Their very gods 
were gods of war and destruction, though beside 
Thor, the thunderer, they worshipped Balder, the 
fair-faced, the god of gentle speech and purity, with 
Freyr, who rules over sunshine and growing things. 
Their hell was a place of cold and darkness, and 
their heaven was to be a place where fighting went 
on from sunrise until the time came to ride back 
to Valhalla and feast together in the great hall. 
Those who died of old age or sickness, instead of 
in battle, must go to hell. Odin, who was chief of 
all the gods, made man, and gave him a soul which 
should never perish, and Frigga, his wife, knew the 
fate of all men, but never told her secrets. 

The Northmen spread themselves at length over 
a great extent of country. We can only wonder 
why, after their energy and valor led them to found 
a thriving colony in Iceland and in Russia, to even 
venture among the icebergs and perilous dismal 
coasts of Greenland, and from thence downward to 
the pleasanter shores of New England, why they did 
not seize these possessions and keep the credit of 
discovering and settling America. What a change 
that would have made in the world's history ! His- 



iS THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

torians have been much perplexed at the fact of 
Leif Ericscn's lack of interest in the fertile Vin- 
land, New England now, which he visited in 986 and 
praised eloquently when he left it to its fate. Vi:i- 
land waited hundreds of years after that for the hardy 
Icelander's kindred to come from old England to 
build their houses and spend the rest of their lives 
upon its good corn-land and among the shadows of 
its great pine-trees. There was room enough for all 
Greenland, and to spare, but we cannot help sus- 
pecting that the Northmen were not very good 
farmers, that they loved fighting too well, and would 
rather go a thousand miles across a stormy sea to 
plunder another man of his crops than to patiently 
raise their own corn and wool and make an honest 
living at home. So, instead of understanding what 
a good fortune it would be for their descendants, if 
they seized and held the great western continent 
that stretched westward from Vinland until it met 
another sea, they kept on with their eastward 
raids, and the valleys of the Elbe and the Rhine, of 
the Seine and Loire, made a famous hunting-ground 
for the dragon ships to seek. The rich seaports and 
trading towns, the strongly walled Roman cities, the 
venerated abbeys and cathedrals with their store of 
wealth and provisions, were all equally exposed to 
the fury of such attacks, and were soon stunned and 
desolated. What a horror must have fallen upon a 
defenceless harbor-side when a fleet of the North- 
men's ships was seen sweeping in from sea at day- 
break ! What a smoke of burning houses and 
shrieking of frightened people all day long ; and as 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 10 

the twilight fell and the few survivors of the assault 
dared to creep out from their hiding-places to see 
the ruins of their homes, and the ships putting out 
to sea again loaded deep with their possessions ! — we 
can hardly picture it to ourselves in these quiet 
days. 

The people who lived in France were of another 
sort, but they often knew how to defend themselves 
as well as the Northmen knew how to attack. There 
are few early French records for us to read, for the 
literature of that early day was almost wholly de- 
stroyed in the religious houses and public buildings 
of France. Here and there a few pages of a poem 
or of a biography or chronicle have been kept, but 
from this very fact we can understand the miserable 
condition of the country. 

In the year 8iothe Danish Norsemen, under their 
king, Gottfried, overran Friesland, but the Emperor 
Charlemagne was too powerful for them and drove 
them back. After his death they were ready to try 
again, and because his huge kingdom had been 
divided under many rulers, who were all fighting 
among themselves, the Danes were more lucky, and 
after robbing Hamburg several times they ravaged 
the coasts and finally settled themselves as comforta- 
bly as possible at the mouth of the Loire in France. 
Soon they were not satisfied with going to and fro 
along the seaboard, and took their smaller craft and 
voyaged inland, swarming up the French rivers by 
hundreds, devastating the country everywhere they 
went. 

In 845 they went up the Seine to Paris, and plun- 



20 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

dered Paris too, more than once ; and forty years 
later, forty thousand of them, led by a man named 
Siegfried, went up from Rouen with seven hundred 
vessels and besieged the poor capital for ten months, 
until they were bought off at the enormous price of 
the whole province of Burgundy. See what power 
that was to put into the hands of the sea-kings' 
crews ! But no price was too dear, the people of 
Paris must have thought, to get rid of such an army 
in the heart of Gaul. They could make whatever 
terms they pleased by this time, and there is a tradi- 
tion that a few years afterward some bands of Dan- 
ish rovers, who perhaps had gone to take a look at 
Burgundy, pushed on farther and settled themselves 
in Switzerland. 

From the settlements they had made in the prov- 
ince of Aquitania, they had long before this gone 
on to Spain, because the rich Spanish cities were too 
tempting to be resisted. They had forced their way 
all along the shore of the sea, and in at the gate of 
the Mediterranean ; they wasted and made havoc as 
they went, in Spain, Africa, and the Balearic islands, 
and pushed their way up the Rhone to Valence. We 
can trace them in Italy, where they burned the cities 
of Pisa and Lucca, and even in Greece, where at last 
the pirate ships were turned about, and set their sails 
for home. Think of those clumsy little ships out on 
such a journey with their single masts and long oars! 
Think of the stories that must have been told from 
town to town after these strange, wild Northern foes 
had come and gone ! They were like hawks that 
came swooping down out of the sky, and though 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIP?. 



21 



Spain and Rome and Greece were well enough 
acquainted with wars, they must have felt when the 
Northmen came, as we should feel if some wild beast 
from the heart of the forest came biting and tearing 
its way through a city street at noontime. 




NOKSE BUCKLE WITH BYZANTINE DECORATION. 

The whole second half of the ninth century is taken 
up with the histories of these invasions. We must 
follow for a while the progress of events in Gaul, or 
France as we call it now, though it was made up 



22 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

then of a number of smaller kingdoms. The result 
of the great siege of Paris was only a settling of 
affairs with the Northmen for the time being ; one 
part of the country was delivered from them at the 
expense of another. ■ They could be bought off and 
bribed for a time, but there was never to be any such 
thing as their going back to their own country and 
letting France alone for good and all. But as they 
gained at length whole tracts of country, instead of 
the little wealth of a few men to take away in their 
ships as at first, they began to settle down in their 
new lands and to become conquerors and colonists 
instead of mere plunderers. Instead of continually 
ravaging and attacking the kingdoms, they slowly 
became the owners and occupiers of the conquered 
territory ; they pushed their way from point to point. 
At first, as you have seen already, they trusted to 
their ships, and always left their wives and children 
at home in the North countries, but as time went on, 
they brought their families with them and made new 
homes, for which they would have to fight many a 
battle yet. It would be no wonder if the women had 
become possessed by a love for adventure too, and 
had insisted upon seeing the lands from which the 
rich booty was brought to them, and that they had 
been saying for a long time : " Show us the places 
where the grapes grow and the fruit-trees bloom, 
where men build great houses and live in them 
splendidly. We are tired of seeing only the long 
larchen beams of their high roofs, and the purple and 
red and gold cloths, and the red wine and yellow 
wheat that you bring away. Why should we not go 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 2$ 

to live in that country, instead of your breaking it to 
pieces, and going there so many of you, every year, 
only to be slain as its enemies ? We are tired of our 
sterile Norway and our great Danish deserts of 
sand, of our cold winds and wet weather, and our 
long winters that pass by so slowly while the fleets 
are gone. We would rather see Seville and Paris 
themselves, than only their gold and merchandise and 
the rafters of their churches that you bring home for 
ship timber." One of the old ballads of love and 
valor lingers yet that the women used to sing : 
" Myklagard and the laud of Spain lie wide away 
o'er the lee." There was room enough in those fat- 
countries where the ships went — why then do they 
stay at home in Friesland and Norway and Denmark, 
crowded and hungry kingdoms that they were, of the 
wandering sea-kings? 

As the years went on, the Northern lands them- 
selves became more peaceful, and the voyages of the 
pirates came to an end. Though the Northmen still 
waged wars enough, they were Danes or Norwegians 
against England and France, one realm against 
another, instead of every man plundering for him- 
self. 

The kingdoms of France had been divided and 
weakened, and, while we find a great many fine 
examples of resistance, and some great victories 
over the Northmen, they were not pushed out and 
checked altogether. Instead, they gradually changed 
into Frenchmen themselves, different from other 
Frenchmen only in being more spirited, vigorous, 
and alert. They inspired every new growth of the re- 



24 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ligion, language, or manners, with their own splen- 
did vitality. They were like plants that have grown 
in dry, thin soil, transplanted to a richer spot of 
ground, and sending out fresh shoots in the doubled 
moisture and sunshine. And presently we shall 
find the Northman becoming the Norman of his- 
tory. As the Northman, almost the first thing we 
admire about him is his character, his glorious en- 
ergy ; as the Norman, we see that energy turned in- 
to better channels, and bringing a new element into 
the progress of civilization. 

The Northmen had come in great numbers to set- 
tle in Gaul, but they were scattered about, and so it 
was easier to count themselves into the population, 
instead of keeping themselves separate. Some of 
these settlements were a good way inland, and every- 
where they mixed their language with the French 
for a time, but finally dropped it almost altogether. 
In a very few years, comparatively speaking, they 
were not Danes or Norwegians at all ; they had for- 
gotten their old customs, and even their pagan gods 
of the Northern countries from which their ancestors 
had come. At last we come to a time when we be- 
gin to distinguish some of the chieftains and other 
brave men from the crowd of their companions. 
The old chronicles of Scandinavia and Denmark and 
Iceland cannot be relied upon like the histories of 
Greece or Rome. The student who tries to discover 
when this man was born, and that man died, from a 
saga, is apt to be disappointed. The more he 
studies these histories of the sea-kings and their 
countries, the more distinct picture he gets of a 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 25 

great crowd of men taking their little ships every 
year and leaving the rocky, barren coasts of their 
own country to go southward. As we have seen, 
France and England and Flanders and Spain were 
all richer and more fruitful, and they would go ashore, 
now at this harbor, now that, to steal all they could, 
even the very land they trod upon. Now and then 
we hear the name of some great man, a stronger and 
more daring sailor and fighter than the rest. There 
is a dismal story of a year of famine in France, when 
the north wind blew all through the weeks of a leaf- 
less spring, the roots of the vines were frozen, and 
the fruit blossoms chilled to the heart. The wild 
creatures of the forest, crazed with hunger, ventured 
into the farms and villages, and the monks fasted 
more than they thought best, and prayed the more 
heartily for succor in their poverty. But down from 
the North came Ragnar Lodbrok, the great Danish 
captain, with his stout-built vessels, " ten times 
twelve dragons of the sea," and he and his men, in 
their shaggy fur garments, went crashing through 
the ice of the French rivers, to make an easy prey 
of the hungry Frenchmen — to conquer everywhere 
they went. And for one Ragnar Lodbrok, read fifty 
or a hundred ; for, though there are many stories 
told about him, just as we think that we can picture 
him and his black-sailed ships in our minds, we are 
told that this is only a legend, and that there never 
was any Ragnar Lodbrok at all who was taken by 
his enemies and thrown into a horrible dungeon 
filled with vipers, to sing a gallant saga about his 
life and misdeeds. But if there were no hero of 



26 THE STORY OF THE NORMAN'S. 

this name, we put together little by little from one 
hint and another legend a very good idea of those 
quarrelsome times, when to be great it was necessary 
to be a pirate, and to kill as many men and steal as 
much of their possession as one possibly could, 
These Northmen set as bad an example as any 
traveller since the world began. More than ninety 
times Ave can hear of them in France and Spain and 
the north of Germany, and always burning and ruin- 
ing, not only the walled cities, but all the territory 
round about. Shipload after shipload left their 
bones on foreign soil ; again and again com- 
panies of them were pushed out of France and Eng- 
land and defeated, but from generation to genera- 
tion the quarrels went on, and we begin to wonder 
why the sea-coasts were not altogether deserted, until 
we remember that the spirit of those days was war- 
like, and that, while the people were plundered one 
year, they succeeded in proving themselves masters 
the next, and so life was filled with hope of military 
glory, and the tide of conquest swept now north, 
and now south. 

From the fjords of Norway a splendid, hardy race 
of young men were pushing their boats to sea every 
year. Remember that their own country was a very 
hard one to live in with its long, dark winters, its 
rainy, short summers when the crops would not 
ripen, its rocky, mountainous surface, and its natural 
poverty. Even now if it were not for the fishing the 
Norwegian peasant people would find great trouble 
in gaining food enough. In early days, when the 
tilling of the ground was less understood, j f must 



THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 27 

have been hard work tempting those yellow-haired, 
eager young adventurers to stay at home, when they 
could live on the sea in their rude, stanch little 
ships, as well as on land ; when they were told great 
stories of the sunshiny, fruitful countries that lay to 
the south, where plenty of food and bright clothes 
and gold and silver might be bought in the market 
of war for the blows of their axes and the strength 
and courage of their right arms. No wonder that it 
seemed a waste of time to stay at home in Norway ! 

And as for the old men who had been to the 
fights and followed the sea-kings and brought home 
treasures, we are sure that they were always talking 
over their valiant deeds and successes, and urging 
their sons and grandsons to go to the South. The 
women wished their husbands and brothers to be as 
brave as the rest, while they cared a great deal for 
the rich booty which was brought back from such 
expeditions. What a hard thing it must have seemed 
to the boys who were sick or lame or deformed, but 
who had all the desire for glory that belonged to any 
of the vikings, and yet must stay at home with the 
women ! 

When we think of all this, of the barren country, 
and the crowd of people who lived in it, of the 
natural relish for a life of adventure, and the hope of 
splendid riches and fame, what wonder that in all 
these hundreds of years the Northmen followed their 
barbarous trade and went a-ravagi ng, and finally took 
great pieces of the Southern countries for their own 
and held them fast. 

As we go on with this story of the Normans, you 



28 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

will watch these followers of the sea-kings keeping 
always some trace of their old habits and customs. 
Indeed you may know them yet. The Northmen 
were vikings, always restless and on the move, steal- 
ing and fighting their way as best they might, daring, 
adventurous. The Norman of the twelfth century 
was a crusader. A madness to go crusading against 
the Saracen possessed him, not alone for religion's 
sake or for the holy city of Jerusalem, and so in all 
the ages since one excuse after another has set the 
same wild blood leaping and made the Northern 
blue eyes shine. Look where you may, you find 
Englishmen of the same stamp — Sir Walter Raleigh 
and Lord Nelson, Stanley and Dr. Livingstone and 
General Gordon, show the old sea-kings' courage 
and recklessness. Snorro Sturleson's best saga 
has been followed by Drayton's " Battle of Agin- 
court " and Tennyson's " Charge of the Light Brig- 
ade " and " Ballad of Sir Richard Grenville." I 
venture to say that there is not an English-speaking 
boy or girl who can hear that sea-king's ballad this 
very day in peaceful England or America without a 
great thrill of sympathy. 

" At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, 
And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away : 
1 Spanish ships of war at sea ! We have sighted fifty-three.' " — 

Go and read that ; the whole of the spirited story ; 
but there is one thing I ask you to remember first in 
all this long story of the Normans : that however 
much it seems to you a long chapter of bloody wars 
and miseries and treacheries that get to be almost 



The men of the dragon ships. 29 

tiresome in their folly and brutality ; however little 
profit it may seem sometimes to read about the 
Norman wars, yet everywhere you will catch a gleam 
of the glorious courage and steadfastness that have 
won not only the petty principalities and dukedoms 
of those early days, but the great English and Ameri- 
can discoveries and inventions and noble advance- 
ment of all the centuries since. 

On the island of Vigr, in the Folden-fiord, the 
peasants still show some rude hollows in the shore 
where the ships of Rolf-Ganger were drawn up in 
winter, and whence he launched them to sail away 
to the Hebrides and France — the beginning of as 
great changes as one man's voyage ever wrought. 




II. 



ROLF THE GANGER. 



Far had I wandered from this northern shore, 
Far from the bare heights and the wintry seas, 
Dreaming of these 

No more." —A. j?. 



TOWARD the middle of the ninth century Harold 
Haarfager did great things in Norway. There had 
always been a great number of petty kings or jarls, 
who were sometimes at peace with each other, but 
oftener at war, and at last this Harold was strong 
enough to conquer all the rest and unite all the 
kingdoms under his own rule. It was by no means 
an easy piece of business, for twelve years went by 
before it was finished, and not only Norway itself, 
but the Orkneys, and Shetlands, and Hebrides, and 
Man were conquered too, and the lawless vikings 
were obliged to keep good order. The story was 
that the king had loved a fair maiden of the North, 
called Gyda, but when he asked her to marry him 
she had answered that she would not marry a jarl ; 
let him make himself a king like Gorm of Denmark! 
At this proud answer Harold loved her more than 
ever, and vowed that he would never cut his hair 

30 



ROLF THE GANGER. 



3 1 



until he had conquered all the jarls and could claim 
Gyda's hand. 

The flourishing shock of his yellow hair became 



: 



A NORWEGIAN FluUD. 




renowned ; we can almost see it ourselves waving 
prosperously through his long series of battles. 
When he was king at last he chose Jarl Rognwald of 



32 THE STORY OF THE NORM AH S. 

More to cut the shining locks because he was the 
most valiant and best-beloved of all his tributaries. 

Jarl Rognwald had a family of sons who were 
noted men in their day. One was called Turf-Einar, 
because he went to the Orkney islands and discov- 
ered great deposits of peat of which he taught the 
forestless people to make use, so that they and 
their descendants were grateful and made him their 
chief hero. Another son was named Rolf, and he 
was lord of three small islands far up toward the 
North. He followed the respected profession of sea- 
robber, but though against foreign countries it was 
the one profession for a jarl to follow, King Harold 
was very stringent in his laws that no viking should 
attack any of his own neighbors or do any mischief 
along the coasts of Norway. These laws Rolf was 
not careful about keeping. 

There was still another brother, who resented 
Haarfager's tyrannies so much that he gathered a 
fine heroic company of vikings and more peaceable 
citizens and went to Iceland and settled there. This 
companycame in time to be renowned as the begin- 
ners of one of the most remarkable republics the 
world has ever known, with a unique government 
by its aristocracy, and a natural development of liter- 
ture unsurpassed in any day. There, where there were 
no foreign customs to influence or pervert, the Norse 
nature and genius had their perfect flowering. 

Rolf is said to have been so tall that he used to 
march afoot whenever he happened to be ashore, 
rather than ride the little Norwegian horses. He 
was nicknamed Gang-Roll (or Rolf), which means 



ROLF THE GANGER. 33 

Rolf the Walker, or Ganger. There are two legends 
which give the reason why he came away from Nor- 
way — one that he killed his brother in an unfortunate 
quarrel, and fled away to England, whither he was 
directed by a vision or dream ; that the English 
helped him to fit out his ships and to sail away again 
toward France. 

The other story, which seems more likely, makes 
it appear that the king was very angry because Rolf 
plundered a Norwegian village when he was coming 
home short of food from a long cruise in the Baltic 
Sea. The peasants complained to Harold Haarfager, 
who happened to be near, and he called the great 
Council of Justice and banished his old favorite for 
life. 

Whether these stories are true or not, at any rate 
Rolf came southward an outlaw, and presently we 
hear of him in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland, 
where a company of Norwegians had settled after 
King Harold's conquests. These men were mostly 
of high birth and great ability, and welcomed the 
new-comer who had so lately been their enemy. 
We are not surprised when we find that they banded 
together as pirates and fitted out a famous expedi- 
tion. Perhaps they did not find living in the 
Hebrides very luxurious, and thought it necessary to 
collect some merchandise and money, or some slaves 
to serve them, so they fell back upon their familiar 
customs. 

Rolf's vessels and theirs made a formidable fleet, 
but although they agreed that there should not be 
any one chosen as "captain, or admiral, as we should 



34 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

say nowadays, we do not hear much of any of the 
confederates except Rolf the Ganger, so we may be 
sure he was most powerful and took command 
whether anybody was willing or not. 

They came round the coast of Scotland, and made 
first for Holland, but as all that part of the country 
had too often been devastated and had become very 
poor, the ships were soon put to sea again. And 
next we find them going up the River Seine in 
France, which was a broader river then than it is 
now, and the highway toward Paris and other cities, 
which always seemed to offer great temptations to 
the vikings. Charles the Simple was king of France 
by right, but the only likeness to his ancestor Charle- 
magne was in his name, and to that his subjects had 
added the Simple, or the Fool, by which we can tell 
that he was not a very independent or magnificent 
sort of monarch. The limits of the kingdom of 
France, at that time, had just been placed between 
the Loire and the Meuse, after many years of fight- 
ing between the territories, and Charles was still con- 
testing his right to the crown. The wide empire of 
Charlemagne had not been divided at once into dis- 
tinct smaller kingdoms, but the heirs had each taken 
what they could hold and fought for much else beside. 
Each pretended to be the lawful king and was ready 
to hold all he could win. So there was naturally 
little good-feeling between them, and not one could 
feel sure that his neighbor would even help him 
to fight against a common enemy. It was " Every one 
for himself, and devil take the hindmost ! " to quote 
the old proverb, which seldom has so literal an ap- 



ROLF THE GANGER. 35 

plication. King Charles the Simple, besides defend- 
ing himself from his outside enemies, was also much 
troubled by a pretender to the crown, and was no 
doubt at his wit's end to know how to manage the 
province of Neustria, lately so vexed by the foreign 
element within its borders. It might be easy work 
for the troop of Northmen* that had followed Rolf. 
Besides the fact that they need not fear any alliance 
against them, and had only Charles the Simple for 
their enemy, one of his own enemies was quite likely 
to form a league with them against him. 

The fleet from the Hebrides had come to anchor 
on its way up the Seine at a town called Jumieges, 
five leagues from Rouen. There was no army near 
by to offer any hindrance, and the work of pillaging 
the country was fairly begun without hindrance 
when the news of the incursion was told in Rouen. 
There the people were in despair, for it was useless 
to think of defending their broken walls ; the city 
was already half ruined from such invasions. At any 
hour they might find themselves at the mercy of 
these new pirates. But in such dreadful dismay the 
archbishop, a man of great courage and good sense, 
whom we must honor heartily, took upon himself 
the perilous duty of going to the camp and trying to 
save the city by making a treaty. He had heard 
stories enough, we may be sure, of the cruel tortures 
of Christian priests by these Northern pagans, who 
still believed in the- gods Thor and Odin and in Val- 
halla, and that the most fortunate thing, for a man's 
life in the next world, was that he should die in 
battle in this world. 



36 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

There was already a great difference in the hopes 
and plans of the Northmen : they listened to the 
archbishop instead of killing him at once, and Rolf 
and his companions treated him and his interpreter 
with some sort of courtesy. Perhaps the bravery of 
the good man won their hearts by its kinship to their 
daring ; perhaps they were already planning to seize 
upon a part of France and to forsake the Hebrides 
altogether, and Rolf had a secret design of founding 
a kingdom for himself that should stand steadfast 
against enemies. When the good priest went back 
to Rouen, I think the people must have been sur- 
prised that he had kept his head upon his shoulders, 
and still more filled with wonder because he was 
able to tell them that he had made a truce, that he 
had guaranteed the assailants admission to the city, 
but that they had promised not to do any harm 
whatever. Who knows if there were not many 
voices that cried out that it was only delivering them 
to the cruel foe, with their wives and children 
and all that they had in the world. When the 
ships came up the river and were anchored before 
one of the city gates near the Church of St. Morin, 
and the tall chieftain and his comrades began to 
come ashore, what beating hearts, what careful peep- 
ing out of windows there must have been in Rouen 
that day ! 

But the chiefs had given their word of honor, and 
they kept it well ; they walked all about the city, and 
examined all the ramparts, the wharves, and the sup- 
ply of water, and gave every thing an unexpectedly 
kind approval. More than this, they said that Rouen 



ROLF THE GANGER. 37 

should be their head-quarters and their citadel. 
This was not very welcome news, but a thousand 
times better than being sacked and ravaged and 
burnt, and when the ships had gone by up the river, 
I dare say that more than one voice spoke up for 
Rolf the Ganger, and gratefully said that he might 
not prove the worst of masters after all. Some of 
the citizens even joined the ranks of the sea-king's 
followers when they went on in quest of new adven- 
ture up the Seine. 

Just where the river Eure joins the Seine, on the 
point between the two streams, the Norwegians 
built a great camp, and fortified it, and there they 
waited for the French army. For once King Charles 
was master of his whole kingdom, and he had made 
up his mind to resist this determined invasion. Pi- 
rates were bad enough, but pirates who were evi- 
dently bent upon greater mischief than usual could 
not be sent away too soon. It was not long before 
the French troops, under the command of a general 
called Regnauld, who bore the title of Duke of 
France, made their appearance opposite the encamp- 
ment, on the right bank of the Eure. 

The French counts had rallied bravely ; they made 
a religious duty of it, for were not these Norwegians 
pagans? and pagans deserved to be killed, even if 
they had not come to steal from a Christian country. 

There was one count who had been a pagan him- 
self years before, but he had become converted, and 
was as famous a Christian as he had been sea-kingf. 
He had declared that he was tired of leading a life 
of wild adventure, and had made peace with France 



38 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

twenty years before this time ; and the kingdom had 
given him the county of Chartres — so he mu>t have 
been a powerful enemy. Naturally he was thought 
to be the best man to confer with his countrymen. 
There was a council of war in the French camp, and 
this Hasting (of whom you will hear again by and 
by) advised that they should confer with Rolf before 
they risked a battle with him. Perhaps the old sea- 
king judged his tall successor by his own experience, 
and thought he might like to be presented with a 
county too, as the price of being quiet and letting 
the frightened Seine cities alone. Some of the other 
lords of the army were very suspicious and angry 
about this proposal, but Hasting had his way, and 
went out with two attendants who could speak 
Danish. 

The three envoys made their short journey to the 
river-side as quickly as possible, and presently they 
stood on the bank of the Eure. Across the river 
were the new fortifications, and some of the sea- 
kings' men were busy with their armor on the other 
shore. 

"Gallant soldiers!" cries the Count of Chartres; 
" what is your chieftain's name ? " 

" We have no lord over us," they shouted back 
again ; " we are all equal." 

" For what end have you come to France ? " 

" To drive out the people who are here, or make 
them our subjects, and to make ourselves a new 
country," says the Northman. " Who are you ? — 
How is it that you speak our own tongue? " 

"You know the story of Hasting," answers the 



ROLF THE GANGER. 39 

count, not without pride — " Hasting, the great pi- 
rate, who scoured the seas with his crowd of ships, 
and did so much evil in this kingdom ? " 

"Aye, we have heard that, but Hasting has made 
a bad end to so good a beginning"; to which the 
count had nothing to say ; he was Lord of Chartres 
now, and liked that very well. 

"Will you submit to King Charles ?" he shouts 
again, and more men are gathering on the bank to 
listen. " Will you give your faith and service, and 
take from him gifts and honor? " 

"No, no !" they answer ; " we will not submit to 
King Charles — go back, and tell him so, you messen- 
ger, and say that we claim the rule and dominion of 
what we win by our own strength and our swords." 

But the Frenchmen called Hasting a traitor when 
he brought this answer back to camp, and told his 
associates not to try to force the pagan entrench- 
ments. A traitor, indeed ! That was too much for 
the old viking's patience. For all that, the accusation 
may have held a grain of truth. Nobody knows the 
whole of his story, but he may have felt the old fire 
and spirit of his youth when he saw the great en- 
campment and heard the familiar tones of his coun- 
trymen. It may be wrong to suspect that he went 
to join them ; but, at all events, Count Chartres left 
the French camp indignantly, and nobody knows 
where he went, either then or afterward, for he for- 
sook his adopted country and left it to its fate. 
They found out that he had given good advice to 
those proud comrades of his, for when they attacked 
the enemy between the rivers they were cut to 



40 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

pieces ; even the duke of France, their bold leader, 
was killed by a poor fisherman of Rouen who had 
followed the Northern army. 

Now there was nothing to hinder Rolf, who begins 
to be formally acknowledged as the leader, from go- 
ing up the Seine as fast or as slow as he pleased, and 
after a while the army laid siege to Paris, but this 
was unsuccessful. One of the chiefs was taken 
prisoner, and to release him they promised a year's 
truce to King Charles, and after a while we find them 
back at Rouen again. They had been ravaging the 
country to the north of Paris, very likely in King 
Charles's company, for there had been a new division 
of the kingdom, and the northern provinces no longer 
called him their sovereign. Poor Charles the Sim- 
ple ! he seems to have had a very hard time of it 
with his unruly subjects, and his fellow-knights and 
princes too, who took advantage of him whenever- 
they could find a chance. 

By this time we know enough of Rolf and his 
friends not to expect them to remain quiet very long 
at Rouen. Away they went to Bayeux, a rich city, 
and assaulted that and killed Berenger, the Count of 
Bayeux, and gained a great heap of booty. We 
learn a great deal of the manners and fashions of 
that early day when we find out that Berenger had 
a beautiful daughter, and when the treasure was 
divided she was considered as part of it and fell to 
Rolf's lot. He immediately married her with ap- 
parent satisfaction and a full performance of Scandi- 
navian rites and ceremonies. 

After this the Northmen went on to Evreux and 



kOLF THE GAtfGEfc. 41 

to some other cities, and their dominion was added 
to, day by day. They began to feel a certain sort of 
respect and care for the poor provinces now that 
they belonged to themselves. And they ceased to 
be cruel to the unresisting people, and only taxed 
them with a certain yearly tribute. Besides this, 
they chose Rolf for their king, but this northern 
title was changed before long for the French one of 
duke. Rolf must have been very popular with his 
followers. We cannot help a certain liking for him 
ourselves or being pleased when we know that his 
new subjects liked him heartily. They had cursed 
him very often, to be sure, and feared his power 
when he was only a pirate, but they were glad 
enough when they gained so fearless and strong a 
man for their protector. Whatever he did seemed 
to be with a far-sightedness and better object than 
they had been used to in their rulers. He was a man 
of great gifts and uncommon power, and he laid his 
plans deeper and was not without a marked knowl- 
edge of the rude politics of that time — a good gov- 
ernor, which was beginning to be needed more in 
France than a good fighter even. 

Fighting was still the way of gaining one's ends, 
and so there was still war, but it was better sustained 
and more orderly. These Northerners, masters now 
of a good piece of territory, linked themselves with 
some of the smaller scattered settlements of Danes 
at the mouth of the river Loire, and went inland on 
a great expedition. They could not conquer Paris 
this time either, nor Dijon nor Chartres. The great 
walls of these cities and several others were not to 



42 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

be beaten down, but there is a long list of weaker 
towns that fell into their hands, and at last the 
French people could bear the sieges no longer, and 
not only the peasants but the nobles and priests 
clamored for deliverance. King Charles may have 
been justly called the Simple, but he showed very 
good sense now. " We shall starve to death," the 
people were saying. " Nobody dares to work in the 
field or the vineyard ; there is not an acre of corn 
from Blois to Senlis. Churches are burnt and peo- 
ple are murdered ; the Northmen do as they please. 
See, it is all the fault of a weak king ! " 

King Charles roused himself to do a sensible thing ; 
he may have planned it as a stroke of policy, and 
meant to avail himself of the Northmen's strength 
to keep himself on his throne. He consulted his 
barons and bishops, and they agreed with him that 
he must form a league with their enemies, and so 
make sure of peace. As we read the story of those 
days, we are hardly sure that Rolf was the subject 
after this rather than the king. He did homage 
to King Charles, and he received the sovereignty 
over most of what was to be called the dukedom of 
Normandy. The league was little more than an obli- 
gation of mutual defence, and King Charles was lucky 
to call Rolf his friend and ally. The vigorous Nor- 
wegian was likely to keep his word better than the 
French dukes and barons, who broke such promises 
with perfect ease. Rolf's duty and his interest led 
him nearly in the same path, but he was evidently 
disposed to do what was right according to his way 
of seeing right and wrong. 



ROLF THE GANGER. 43 

All this time he had been living with his wife 
Popa, the daughter of Count Berenger, who was slain 
at Bayeux. They had two children — William, and a 
daughter, Adela. According to the views of King 
Charles and the Christian church of that time, the 
marriage performed with Scandinavian rites was no 
marriage at all, though Rolf loved his wife devot- 
edly and was training his son with great care, so that 
he might by and by take his place, and be no inferior, 
either, of the young French princes who were his 
contemporaries. As one historian says, the best had 
the best then, and this young William was being 
made a scholar as fast as possible. 

For all this, when the king's messenger came to 
Rolf and made him an offer of Gisla, the king's 
daughter, for a wife, with the seigneury of all the 
lands between the river Epte and the border of Brit- 
tany, if he would only become a Christian and live 
in peace with the kingdom, Rolf listened with pleas- 
ure. He did not repeat now the words that Hasting 
heard on the bank of the Eure, " We will obey no 
one ! " while with regard to the marriage he evi- 
dently felt free to contract a new one. 

It was all a great step upward, and Rolf's clear 
eyes saw that. If he were not a Christian he could 
not be the equal of the lords of France. He was 
not a mere adventurer any longer, the leader of a 
band of pirates; other ambitions had come to him 
since he had been governor of his territory. The 
pagan fanaticism and superstition of his companions 
were more than half extinguished already ; the old 
myths of the Northern gods had not flourished in 



44 THE STORY OF THE A'OA'MANS. 

this new soil. At last, after much discussion and 
bargaining about the land that should be given, Rolf 
gave his promise once for all, and now we may begin 
to call him fairly the Duke of Normandy and his 
people the Normans ; the old days of the Northmen 
in France had come to an end. For a good many 
years the neighboring provinces called the new duke- 
dom " the pirate's land " and " the Northman's 
land," but the great Norman race was in actual 
existence now, and from this beginning under Rolf, 
the tall Norwegian sea-king, has come one of the 
greatest forces and powers of the civilized world. 

I must give you some account of the ceremonies 
at this establishment of the new duke, for it was a 
grand occasion, and the king's train of noblemen 
and gentlemen, and all the Norman officers and 
statesmen went out to do honor to that day. The 
place was in a village called St. Claire, on the river 
Epte, and the French pitched their tents on one 
bank of the river and the Normans on the other. 
Then, at the hour appointed, Rolf came over to 
meet the king, and did what would have astonished 
his father Rognwald and his viking ancestors very 
much. He put his hand between the king's hands 
and said : " From this time forward I am your vassal 
and man, and I give my oath that I will faithfully 
protect your life, your limbs, and your royal honor." 

After this the king and his nobles formally gave 
Rolf the title of duke or count, and swore that they 
would protect him and his honor too, and all the 
lands named in the treaty. But there is an old 
story that, when Rolf was directed to kneel before 



ROLF THE GANGER 45 

King Charles and kiss his foot in token of submis- 
sion, he was a rebellious subject at once. Perhaps 
he thought that some of his French rivals had re- 
vived this old Frankish custom on purpose to humble 
his pride, but he said nothing, only beckoned quietly 
to one of his followers to come and take his place. 
Out steps the man. I do not doubt that his eyes 
were dancing, and that his yellow beard hid a 
laughing mouth ; he did not bend his knee at all, but 
caught the king's foot, and lifted it so high that the 
poor monarch fell over backward, and all the pirates 
gave a shout of laughter. They did not think much 
of Charles the Simple, those followers of Rolf the 
Ganger. 

Afterward the marriage took place at Rouen, and 
the high barons of France went there with the bride, 
though it was not a very happy day for Gisla, whom 
Rolf never lived with or loved. He was a great 
many years older than she, and when she died he 
took Popa, the first wife back again — if, indeed, he 
had not considered her the true wife all the time. 
Then on that wedding-day he became a Christian 
too, though there must .have been more change of 
words and manner than of Rolf's own thoughts. He 
received the archbishop's lessons with great amia- 
bility, and gave part of his lands to the church be- 
fore he divided the rest among his new-made nobles. 
They put a long white gown or habit on him, such 
as newly baptized persons wore, and he must have 
been an amusing sight to see, all those seven days 
that he kept it on, tall old seafarer that he was, but 
he preserved a famous dignity, and gave estates to 



46 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

seven churches in succession on each day of that 
solemn week. Then he put on his every-day clothes 
again, and gave his whole time to his political affairs 
and the dividing out of Normandy among the Nor- 
wegian chieftains who had come with him on that 
lucky last voyage. 

It is said that Rolf himself was the founder of the 
system of landholding according to the custom of 
feudal times, and of a regular system of property 
rights, and customs of hiring and dividing the landed 
property, but there are no state papers or charters 
belonging to that early time, as there are in England, 
so nobody can be very sure. At any rate, he is said to 
have been the best ruler possible, and his province was 
a model for others, though it was the most modern 
in Gaul. He caused the dilapidated towns and cities 
to be rebuilt, and the churches were put into good 
repair and order. There are parts of some of the 
Rouen churches standing yet, that Rolf rebuilt. 

There is a great temptation to linger and find out 
all we can of the times of this first Count of Nor- 
mandy — so many later traits and customs date back 
to Rolf's reign ; and all through this story of the Nor- 
mans we shall find a likeness to the first leader, and 
trace his influence. His own descendants inherited 
many of his gifts of character — a readiness of thought 
and speech ; clear, bright minds, and vigor of action. 
Even those who were given over to ways of vice and 
shame, had a cleverness and attractiveness that made 
their friends hold to them, in spite of their sins and 
treacheries. A great deal was thought of learning 
and scholarship among the nobles and gentle folk of 



ROLF THE GANGER. 47 

that day, and Rolf had caught eagerly at all such 
advantages, even while he trusted most to his North- 
ern traditions of strength and courage. If he had 
thought these were enough to win success, and had 
brought up his boy as a mere pirate and fighter, it 
would have made a great difference in the future of 
the Norman people and their rulers. The need of a 
good education was believed in, and held as a sort of 
family doctrine, as long as Rolf's race existed, but 
you will see in one after another of these Norman 
counts the nature of the sea-kings mixed with their 
later learning and accomplishments. 

We cannot help being a little amused, however, 
when we find that young William, the grandson of 
old Rognvald, loved his books so well that he begged 
his father to let him enter a monastery. The wise, 
good man Botho, who was his tutor, had taught him 
to be proud of his other grandfather, Count Beren- 
ger, who belonged to one of the most illustrious 
French families, and taught him also to follow the 
example of the good clergymen of Normandy, as 
well as the great conquerors and chieftains. By and 
by we shall see that he loved to do good, and to do 
works of mercy, though his people called him Wil- 
liam Longsword, and followed him to the wars. 

Normandy was wild enough when Rolf came to 
rule there, but before he died the country had 
changed very much for the better. He was very 
careful to protect the farmers, and such laws were 
made, and kept, too, that robbery was almost un- 
known throughout the little kingdom. The peas- 
ants could leave their oxen or their tools in the 



48 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

field now, and if by chance they were stolen, the 
duke himself was responsible for the loss. A pretty 
story is told of Rolf that has also been told of other 
wise rulers. He had gone out hunting one day, and 
after the sport, while he and his companions were 
resting and having a little feast as they sat on the 
grass, Rolf said he would prove the orderliness and 
trustiness of his people. So he took off the two 
gold bracelets which were a badge of his rank, and 
reached up and hung them on a tree close by, and 
there they were, safe and shining, a long time 
afterward, when he went to seek them. Perhaps 
this story is only a myth, though the tale is 
echoed in other countries — England, Ireland, and 
Lombardy, and others beside. At any rate, it gives 
an expression of the public safety and order, and 
the people's gratitude to their good kings. Rolf 
brought to his new home some fine old Scandinavian 
customs, for his own people were knit together with 
close bonds in Norway. If a farmer's own servants 
or helpers failed him for any reason, he could de- 
mand the help of his neighbors without paying 
them, and they all came and helped him gather his 
harvest. Besides, the law punished nothing so se- 
verely as the crime of damaging or stealing from a 
growing crop. The field was said to be under God's 
lock, with heaven for its roof, though there might be 
only a hedge for its wall. If a man stole from 
another man's field, and took the ripe corn into his 
own barn, he paid for it with his life. This does not 
match very well with the sea-kings' exploits abroad, 
but they were very strict rulers, and very honest 



ROLF THE GANGER. 49 

among themselves at home. One familiar English 
word of ours — hurrah, — is said to date from Rolfs 
reign. Rou the Frenchmen called our Rolf ; and 
there was a law that if a man was in danger himself, 
or caught his enemy doing any damage, he could 
raise the cry Ha Rou ! and so invoke justice in Duke 
Rolf's name. At the sound of the cry, everybody 
was bound, on the instant, to give chase to the of- 
fender, and whoever failed to respond to the cry of 
Ha Rou ! must pay a heavy fine to Rolf himself. 
This began the old English fashion of " hue and 
cry," as well as our custom of shouting Hurrah ' 
when we are pleased and excited. 

We cannot help being surprised to see how quickly 
the Normans became Frenchmen in their ways of 
living and even speaking. There is hardly a trace 
of their Northern language except a few names of 
localities left in Normandy. Once settled in their 
new possessions, Rolf and all his followers seem to 
have been as eager for the welfare of Normandy as 
they were ready to devastate it before. They were 
proud not of being Norsemen but of being Normans. 
Otherwise their country could not have done what 
it did in the very next reign to Rolf's, nor could 
Rouen have become so much like a French city 
even in his own lifetime. This was work worthy of 
his power, to rule a people well, and lift them up 
toward better living and better things. His vigor 
and quickness made him able to seize upon the best 
traits and capabilities of his new countrymen, and 
enforce them as patterns and examples, with no 
tolerance of their faults. 



SO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

From the viking's ships which had brought Rolf 
and his confederates, all equal, from the Hebrides, 
it is a long step upward to the Norman landholders 
and quiet citizens with their powerful duke in his 
palace at Rouen. He had shared the lands of Nor- 
mandy, as we have seen, with his companions, and 
there was a true aristocracy among them — a rule of 
the best, for that is what aristocracy really means. 
No doubt there was sin and harm enough under the 
new order of things, but we can see that there was 
a great advance in its first duke's reign, even if we 
cannot believe that all the fine stories are true that 
his chroniclers have told. 

Rolf died in 927, and was a pious Christian ac- 
cording to his friends, and had a lingering respect 
for his heathen idols according to his enemies. He 
was an old man, and had been a brave man, and he 
is honored to this day for his justice and his courage 
in that stormy time when he lived. Some say that 
he was forty years a pirate before he came to Nor- 
mandy, and looking back on these days of sea- 
faring and robbery and violence must have made 
him all the more contented with his pleasant fields 
and their fruit-trees and waving grain ; with his 
noble city of Rouen, and his gentle son William, who 
was the friend of the priests. 

Rolf became very feeble in body and mind, and 
before his death he gave up the rule of the duchy to 
his son. He lingered for several years, but we hear 
nothing more of him except that when he lay dying 
he had terrible dreams of his old pirate days, and 
was troubled by visions of his slaughtered vie- 



ROLF THE GANGER. $1 

tims and the havoc made by the long-ships. We 
are glad to know that he waked from these sorrows 
long enough to give rich presents to the church and 
the poor, which comforted him greatly and eased his 
unhappy conscience. He was buried in his city of 
Rouen, in the cathedral, and there is his tomb still 
with a figure of him in stone — an old tired man with 
a furrowed brow ; the strength of his fourscore years 
had become only labor and sorrow, but he looks like 
the Norseman that he was in spite of the ducal robes 
of French Normandy. There was need enough of 
bravery in the man who should fill his place. The 
wars still went on along the borders, and there must 
have been fear of new trouble in the duchy when 
this old chieftain Rolf had lain down to die, and his 
empty armor was hung high in the palace hall. 




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III. 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 

" For old, unhappy, far-off things 
And battles long ago." — Wordsworth. 

BEFORE we follow the fortunes of the new duke, 
young William Longsword, we must take a look at 
France and see what traditions and influences were 
going to affect our colony of Northmen from that 
side, and what relations they had with their neigh- 
bors. Perhaps the best way to make every thing 
clear is to go back to the reign of the Emperor 
Charlemagne, who inherited a great kingdom, and 
added to it by his wars and statesmanship until he 
was crowned at Rome, in the year 800, emperor not 
only of Germany and Gaul, but of the larger part of 
Italy and the northeastern part of Spain. Much of 
this territory had shared in the glories of the Roman 
Empire and had fallen with it. But Charlemagne 
was equal to restoring many lost advantages, being 
a man of great power and capacity, who found time, 
while his great campaigns were going on, to do a 
great deal for the schools of his country. He even 
founded a sort of normal school, where teachers 
were fitted for their work, and his daughters were 

52 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 53 

busy in copying manuscripts ; the emperor himself 
was fond of being read to when he was at his meals, 
and used to get up at midnight to watch the stars. 
Some of the interesting stories about him may not 
be true, but we can be sure that he was a great 
general and a masterly governor and lawgiver, and a 
good deal of a scholar. Like Rolf, he was one of 
the men who mark as well as make a great change 
in the world's affairs, and in whose time civilization 
takes a long step forward. When we know that it 
took him between thirty and forty years to com- 
pletely conquer the Saxons, who lived in the north- 
ern part of his country, and we read the story of the 
great battle of Roncesvalles in which the Basque 
people won ; when we follow Charlemagne (the 
great Charles, as his people love to call him) on 
these campaigns which take up almost all his history, 
we cannot help seeing that his enemies fought 
against the new order of things that he represented. 
It was not only that they did not want Charlemagne 
for their king, but they did not wish to be Christians 
either, or to forsake their own religion and their own 
ideas for his. 

When he died he was master of a great association 
of countries which for years yet could not come to- 
gether except in name, because of their real un- 
likeness and jealousy of each other. Charlemagne 
had managed to rule them all, for his sons and 
officers, whom he had put in command of the various 
provinces, were all dictated to by him, and were not 
in the least independent of his oversight. His fame 
was widespread. Embassies came to him from d'*- 



54 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

tant Eastern countries, and no doubt he felt that he 
was establishing a great empire for his successors. 
Thirty years after he died the empire was divided 
into three parts, and thirty-four years later it was all 
broken up in the foolish reign of his own great- 
grandson, who was called Charles also, but instead of 
Charles the Great became known as Charles the Fat. 
From the fragments of the old empire were formed 
the kingdoms of France, of Italy, and of Germany, 
with the less important states of Lorraine, Bur- 
gundy, and Navarre. But although the great em- 
pire had fallen to pieces, each fragment kept some- 
thing of the new spirit that had been forced into it 
by the famous emperor. For this reason there was 
no cdVner of his wide domain that did not for many 
years after his death stand in better relation to 
progress, and to the influence of religion, the most 
potent civilizer of men. 

All this time the power of the nobles had been in- 
creasing, for, whereas, at first they had been only 
the officers of the king, and were appointed to or 
removed from their posts at the royal pleasure, they 
contrived at length to make their positions heredi- 
tary and to establish certain rights and privileges. 
This was the foundation of the feudal system, and 
such a growth was sure to strike deep root. Every 
officer could hope to become a ruler in a small way, 
and to endow his family with whatever gains and 
holdings he had managed to make his own. And as 
these feudal chiefs soon came to value their power, 
they were ready to fight, not only all together for 
their king or over-lord, but for themselves ; and one 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 55 

petty landholder with his dependents would go out 
to fight his next neighbor, each hoping to make the 
other his tributary. France proper begins to make 
itself heard about in these days. 

If you have read " The Story of Rome," and " The 
Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire," you can trace 
the still earlier changes in the old province of Gaul. 
The Franks had come westward, a bold association 
of German tribes, and in that fifth century when the 
Roman rule was overthrown, they swarmed over the 
frontiers and settled by hundreds and thousands in 
the conquered provinces. But, strange to say, as 
years went on they disappeared ; not because they 
or their children went away again and left Gaul to 
itself, but because they adopted the ways and 
fashions of the country. They were still called 
Franks and a part of the country was called France 
even, but the two races were completely mixed to- 
gether and the conquerors were as Gallic as the con- 
quered. They even spoke the new language ; it 
appears like an increase or strengthening of the 
Gallic race rather than a subjugation of it, and the 
coming of these Franks founded, not a new province 
of Germany, but the French nation. 

The language was changed a good deal, for of 
course many Frankish or German words were added, 
as Roman (or Romance) words had been added be- 
fore, to the old Gallic, and other things were changed 
too. In fact we are not a bit surprised when we 
find that the German kings, Charlemagne's own de- 
scendants, were looked upon as*foreigners, and some 
of the French leaders, the feudal lords and princes, 



56 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

opposed themselves to their monarchs. They were 
brave men and ready to fight for what they wanted. 
Charles the Fat could not keep himself on his un- 
steady throne, and in Rolf's day France was con- 
tinually at war, sometimes at home, and almost al- 
ways with the neighboring provinces and kingdoms. 
Rolf's contemporary, Charles the Simple, lost his 
kingship in 922, when his nobles revolted and put 
another leader in his place, who was called Hugh the 
Great, Count of Paris. Charles the Simple was kept 
a prisoner until he died, by a Count of Vermandois, 
of whom he had claimed protection, and whose 
daughter William Longsword had married. 

There was a great deal of treachery among the 
French nobles. Each was trying to make himself 
rich and great, and serving whatever cause could 
promise most gain. There was diplomacy enough, 
and talking and fighting enough, but very little 
loyalty and care for public welfare. In Normandy, 
a movement toward better things showed itself more 
and more plainly ; instead of wrangling over the 
fragments of an old dismembered kingdom, Rolf 
had been carefully building a strong new one, and 
had been making and keeping laws instead of break- 
ing laws, and trying to make goodness and right 
prevail, and theft and treachery impossible. We 
must not judge those days by our own, for many 
things were considered right then that are wrong 
now; but Rolf knew that order and bravery were 
good, and that learning was good, and so he kept 
his dukedom quiet, though he was ready enough to 
fight his enemies, and he sent his son William 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 57 

Longsword to school, and made him a good 
scholar as well as soldier. This was as good train- 
ing as a young man could have in those stormy 
times. 

Under Rolf, Normandy had held faithfully to the 
king, but under his son's rule we find a long chapter 
of changes, for William was constantly transferring 
his allegiance from king to duke. When he suc- 
ceeded his father, Normandy and France were at 
war — that is, Rolf would not acknowledge any king 
but Charles, who was in prison, while the usurper, 
Rudolph of Burgundy, was on the French throne. 
It is very hard to keep track of the different parties 
and their leaders. Everybody constantly changed 
sides, and it is not very clear what glory there was 
in being a king, when the vassals were so powerful 
that they could rebel against their sovereign and 
make war on him as often as they pleased. Yet 
they were very decided about having a king, if only 
to show how much greater they were by contrast. 
Duke Hugh of Paris takes the most prominent place 
just at this time, and with his widespread dominions 
and personal power and high rank, we cannot help 
wondering that he did not put himself at the head 
of the kingdom. Instead of that he chose to remain 
a subject, while he controlled the king's actions and 
robbed him of his territory and kept him in personal 
bondage. He had no objection to transferring his 
strange loyalty from one king to another, but he 
would always have a king over him, though at three 
different times there was nothing except his own 
plans to hinder him from putting the crown of 



58 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

France upon his own head. He had a stronger 
guiding principle than some of his associates, and 
seems to have been a better man. 

From Charles the Simple had come the lands of 
Normandy, and to him the first vow of allegiance had 
been made, and so both Rolf and William took his 
part and were enemies to his usurper and his foes. 
When William came into possession of his dukedom, 
one of his first acts was to do homage to his father's 
over-lord, and he never did homage to Rudolph the 
usurper until Charles was dead, and even then waited 
three years ; but Rudolph was evidently glad to be 
friends, and presented Longsword with a grant of 
the sea-coast in Brittany. The Norman duke was a 
formidable rival if any trouble should arise, and the 
Normans themselves were very independent in their 
opinions. One of Rolf's followers had long ago 
told a Frenchman that his chief, who had come to 
Neustria a king without a kingdom, now held his 
broad lands from the sun and from God. They kept 
strange faith with each other in those days. Each 
man had his own ambitious plans, and his leagues 
and friendships were only for the sake of bringing 
them about. This was not being very grateful, but 
Rolf's men knew that the Breton lands were the 
price of peace and alliance, and not a free gift for 
love's sake by any means. 

As we try to puzzle out a distinct account of 
William's reign, we find him sometimes the enemy 
of Rudolph and in league with Hugh of Paris, some- 
times he was in alliance with Rudolph, though he 
would not call him king, and oftener he would have 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 59 

nothing to do with either. It is very dull reading, 
except as we trace the characters of the men them- 
selves. 

Most of the Normans had accepted Christianity 
many years before, in the time of Rolf, and had been 
christened, but a certain number had refused it and 
clung to the customs of their ancestors. These 
people had formed a separate neighborhood or 
colony near Bayeux, and after several generations, 
while they had outwardly conformed to the prevail- 
ing observances, they still remained Northmen at 
heart. They were remarkable among the other 
Normans for their great turbulence and for an 
almost incessant opposition to the dukes, and some 
of them kept the old pagan devices on their shields, 
and went into battle shouting the Northern war-cry 
of " Thor aide ! " instead of the pious " Dien aide ! " 
or " Dex aide ! " of Normandy. 

Whatever relic of paganism may have clung to 
Rolf himself, it is pretty certain that his son, half 
Frenchman by birth, was almost wholly a Frenchman 
in feeling. We must remember that he was not the 
son of Gisla the king's sister, however, but of Popa of 
Bayeux. There was a brother or half-brother of hers 
called Bernard de Senlis, who in spite of his father's 
murder and the unhappy beginning of their acquaint- 
ance with Rolf, seems to have become very friendly 
with the Norse chieftain. 

The fortunes of war were so familiar in those days 
and kept so many men at fierce enmity with each 
other, that we are half surprised to come upon this 
sincere, kindly relationship in the story of the early 



60 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Normans. Even Rolf's wife's foolish little nickname, 
" Popa," under cover of which her own name has 
been forgotten, — this name of puppet or little doll, 
gives a hint of affectionateness and a sign of home- 
likeness which we should be very sorry to miss. As 
for Bernard de Senlis, he protected not only the 
rights of Rolf's children and grandchildren, but their 
very lives, and if it had not been for his standing 
between them and their enemies Rolf's successors 
would never have been dukes of Normandy. 

With all his inherited power and his own personal 
bravery, William found himself in a very hard place. 
He kept steadfastly to his ideas of right and might, 
and one thinks that with his half French and half 
Northman nature he might have understood both of 
the parties that quickly began to oppose each other 
in Normandy. He ruled as a French prince, and he 
and his followers were very eager to hold their place 
in the general confederacy of France, and eager too 
that Normandy should be French in religion, 
manners, and customs. Yet they did not wish Nor- 
mandy to be absorbed into France in any political 
sense. Although there were several men of Danish 
birth, Rolf's old companions, who took this view of 
things, and threw in their lot with the French party, 
like Botho, William's old tutor, and Oslac, and Ber- 
nard the Dane, of whom we shall hear again, there 
was a great body of the Normans who rebelled and 
made much trouble. 

William's French speech and French friends were 
all this time making him distrusted and even disliked 
by a large portion of his own subjects. There stil' 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 6 1 

remained a strong Northern and pagan influence in 
the older parts of the Norman duchy; while in the 
new lands of Brittany some of the independent 
Danish settlements, being composed chiefly of the 
descendants of men who had forced their way into 
that country before Rolf's time, were less ready for 
French rule than even the Normans. Between these 
new allies and the disaffected Normans themselves a 
grand revolt was organized under the leadership of 
an independent Danish chief from one of the Breton 
provinces. The rebels demanded one concession after 
another, and frightened Duke William dreadfully ; he 
even proposed to give up his duchy and to beg the 
protection of his French uncle, Bernard de Senlis. 
We are afraid that he had left his famous longsword 
at home on that campaign, until it appears that his 
old counsellor, Bernard the Dane, urged him to go 
back and meet the insurgents, and that a great vic- 
tory was won and the revolt ended for that time. 
The account of William's wonderful success is made 
to sound almost miraculous by the old chronicles. 

The two Norman parties held separate territories 
and were divided geographically, and each party 
wished to keep to itself and not be linked with the 
other. The Christian duke who liked French speech 
and French government might keep Christian Rouen 
and Evreux where Frenchmen abounded, but the 
heathen Danes to the westward would rather be inde- 
pendent of a leader who had turned his face upon the 
traditions and beliefs of his ancestors. For the time 
being, these rebellious subjects must keep their 
grudges and bear their wrongs as best they might, 



62 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

for their opponents were the masters now, and 
William was free to aim at still greater influence in 
French affairs as his dominion increased. 

Through his whole life he was swayed by religious 
impulses, and, as we have known, it was hard work 
at one time to keep him from being a monk. Yet 
he was not very lavish in his presents to the church, 
as a good monarch was expected to be in those days, 
and most of the abbeys and cathedrals which had 
suffered so cruelly in the days of the pirates were 
very poor still, and many were even left desolate. 
His government is described as just and vigorous, 
and as a general thing his subjects liked him and 
upheld his authority. He was very desirous all the 
time to bring his people within the bounds of Chris- 
tian civilization and French law and order, yet he 
did not try to cast away entirely the inherited speech 
or ideas of his ancestors. Of course his treatment of 
the settlements to the westward and the Danish party 
in his dominion must have varied at different times 
in his reign. Yet, after he had made great efforts to 
identify himself with the French, he still found him- 
self looked down upon by his contemporaries and 
called the Duke of the Pirates, and so in later years 
he concerned himself more with his father's people, 
and even, so the tradition goes, gave a new Danish 
colony direct from Denmark leave to settle in Brit- 
tany. His young son Richard was put under the 
care, not of French priests, but his own old tutor, 
Botho the Dane, and the boy and his master were 
sent purposely to Bayeux, the very city which young 
Richard's grandfather, Rolf, had helped to ravage. 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 63 

At Rouen the Northman's language was already 
almost forgotten, but the heir to the duchy was sent 
where he could hear it every day, though his good 
teacher had accepted French manners and the re- 
ligion of Rome. William Longsword had become 
sure that there was no use in trying to be either 
wholly Danish or wholly French, the true plan for a 
Duke of Normandy was to be Dane and Frenchman 
at once. The balance seems to have swung toward 
the Danish party for a time after this, and after a 
troubled, bewildering reign to its very close, William 
died at the hands of his enemies, who had lured him 
away to hold a conference with Arnulf, of Flanders, 
at Picquigny, where he came to a mysterious and 
sudden death. 

The next year, 943, was a marked one in France 
and began a new order of things. There was a birth 
and a death which changed the current of history. 
The Count of Vermandois, the same man who had 
kept the prison and helped in the murder of Charles 
the Simple, was murdered himself — or at least died 
in an unexplained and horrible way, as men were apt 
to do who were called tyrants and were regicides be- 
side. His dominion was divided among his sons, 
except some parts of it that Hugh of Paris seized. 
This was the death, and the birth was of a son and 
heir to Hugh of Paris himself. His first wife was an 
Englishwoman, Eadhild, but she had died childless, 
to his great sorrow. This baby was the son of his 
wife Hadwisa, the daughter of King Henry of Ger- 
many, and he was called Hugh for his father; Hugh 
Capet, the future king. After this Hugh of Paris 



64 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

changed his plans and his policy. True enough, he 
had never consented to being a king himself, but it 
was quite another thing to hinder his son from 
reigning over France by and by. Here the French- 
man begins to contrast himself more plainly against 
the Frank, just as we have seen the Norman begin 
to separate himself from the Northman. Under 
Rolf Normandy had been steadily loyal to King 
Charles the Simple ; under William it had wavered 
between the king and the duke ; under Richard we 
shall see Normandy growing more French again. 

Under William Longsword, now Frenchman, now 
Northman was coming to the front, and everybody 
was ready to fight without caring so very much what 
it was all about. But everywhere we find the 
striking figure of the young duke carrying his great 
sword, that came to be the symbol of order and 
peace. The golden hilt and long shining blade are 
familiar enough in the story of William's life. 
Somehow we can hardly think of him without his 
great weapon. With it he could strike a mighty blow, 
and in spite of his uncommon strength, he is said to 
have been of a slender, graceful figure, with beautiful 
features and clear, bright color like a young girl's. 
His charming, cheerful, spirited manners won friend- 
ship and liking. " He had an eye for splendor," 
says one biographer ; "well spoken to all, William 
Longsword could quote a text to the priest, listen 
respectfully to the wise sayings of the old, talk mer- 
rily with his young friends about chess and tables, 
discuss the flight of the falcon and the fleetness of 
the hound." 



WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 65 

When he desired to be a monk, he was persuaded 
that his rank and duties would not permit such a 
sacrifice, and that he must act his part in the world 
rather than in the cloister, for Normandy's sake, but 
in spite of his gay life and apparent fondness 
for the world's delights and pleasures, when he 
died his followers found a sackcloth garment and 
scourge under his splendid clothes. And as he lay 
dead in Rouen the rough haircloth shirt was turned 
outward at the throat so that all the people could 
see. He had not the firmness and decision that a 
duke of Normandy needed ; he was very affectionate 
and impulsive, but he was a miserly person, and had 
not the power of holding on and doing what ought 
to be done with all his might. 





IV. 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 



" By many a warlike feat 
Lopped the French lilies." 



-Drayton. 



AROUND the city of Bayeux, Mere the head- 
quarters of the Northmen, and both Rolf's followers 
and the later colonists had kept that part of the 
duchy almost free from French influence. There 
Longsword's little son Richard (whose mother was 
Espriota, the duke's first wife, whom he had married 
in Banish fashion), was sent to learn the Northmen's 
language, and there he lived yet with his teachers and 
Count Bernard, when the news came of the murder 
of his father by Arnulf of Flanders, with whom 
William had gone to confer in good faith. 

We can imagine for ourselves the looks of the 
little lad and his surroundings. He was fond even 
then of the chase, and it might be on some evening 
when he had come in with the huntsmen that he 
found a breathless messenger who had brought the 
news of Lonsgword's death. We can imagine the low 
roofed, stone-arched room with its thick pillars, and 
deep stone casings to the windows, where the wind 
came in and made the torches flare. At each end of 

66 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 67 

the room would be a great fire, and the servants 
busy before one of them with the supper, and there 
on the flagstones, in a dark heap, is the stag, and 
perhaps some smaller game that the hunters have 
thrown down. There are no chimneys, and the fires 
leap up against the walls, and the smoke curls along 
the ceiling and finds its way out as best it can. 

One end of the room is a step or two higher than 
the other, and here there is a long table spread with 
drinking-horns and bowls, and perhaps some 
beautiful silver cups, with figures of grapevines 
and fauns and satyrs carved on them, which the 
Norse pirates brought home long ago from Italy. 
The floor has been covered with rushes which the 
girls of the household scatter, and some of these 
girls wear old Norse ornaments of wrought silver, 
with bits of coral, that must have come from 
Italy too. The great stag-hounds are stretched 
out asleep after their day's work, and the little Rich- 
ard is tired too, and has thrown himself into a tall 
carved chair by the fire. 

Suddenly there comes the sound of a horn, and 
everybody starts and listens. Was the household to 
be attacked and besieged ? for friends were less 
likely visitors than enemies in those rough times. 

The dogs bark and cannot be quieted, and again 
the horn sounds outside the gate, and somebody 
has gone to answer it, and those who listen hear the 
great hinges creak presently as the gate is opened 
and the sound of horses' feet in the courtyard. 
The dogs have found that there is no danger and 
creep away lazily to go to sleep again, but when the 



68 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

men of the household come back to the great hall 
their faces are sadly changed. Something has hap- 
pened. 

Among them are two guests, two old counts 
whom everybody knows, and they walk gravely with 
bent heads toward the boy Richard, who stands by 
the smaller fire, in the place of honor, near his fath- 
er's chair. Has his father come back sooner than he 
expected ? The boy's heart must beat fast with 
hope for one minute, then he is frightened by the 
silence in the great hall. Nobody is singing or talk- 
ing ; there is a dreadful stillness ; the very dogs are 
quiet and watching from their beds on the new- 
strewn rushes. The fires snap and crackle and throw 
long shadows about the room. 

What are the two counts going to do — Bernard 
Harcourt and Rainulf Ferrieres ? They are kneeling 
before the little boy, who is ready to run away, he 
does not know why. Count Bernard has knelt be- 
fore him, and says this, as he holds Richard's small 
hand : " Richard, Duke of Normandy, I am your 
liegeman and true vassal " ; and then the other count 
does and says the same, while Bernard stands by and 
covers his face with his hands and weeps. 

Richard stands, wondering, as all the rest of the 
noblemen promise him their service and the loyalty 
of their castles and lands, and suddenly the truth 
comes to him. His dear father is dead, and he must 
be the duke now ; he, a little stupid boy, must take 
the place of the handsome, smiling man with his 
shining sword and black horse and purple robe and 
the feather with its shining clasp in the high ducal 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 69 

cap that is as splendid as any crown. Richard must 
take the old counts for his playfellows, and learn 
to rule his province of Normandy ; and what a long, 
sad, frightened night that must have been to the 
fatherless boy who must win for himself the good 
name of Richard the Fearless ! 

Next day they rode to Rouen, and there, when the 
nobles had come, the dead duke was buried with 
great ceremony, and all the people mourned for him 
and were ready to swear vengeance on his treacher- 
ous murderer. After the service was over Richard 
was led back from the cathedral to his palace, and 
his heavy black robes were taken off and a scarlet 
tunic put on ; his long brown hair was curled, and 
he was made as fine as a little duke could be, though 
his eyes were red with crying, and he hated all the 
pomp and splendor that only made him the surer 
that his father was gone. 

They brought him down to the great hall of the 
palace, and there he found all the barons who had 
come to his father's burial, and the boy was told to 
pull off his cap to them and bow low in answer to 
their salutations. Then he slowly crossed the hall, 
and all the barons walked after him in a grand pro- 
cession according to rank — first the Duke of Brittany 
and last the poorest of the knights, all going to the 
Church of Notre Dame, the great cathedral of 
Rouen, where the solemn funeral chants had been 
sung so short a time before. 

There were all the priests and the Norman bish- 
ops, and the choir sang as Richard walked to his 
place near the altar where he had seen his father sit 



70 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

so many times. All the long services of the mass 
were performed, and then the boy-duke gave his 
promise, in the name of God and the people of Nor- 
mandy, that he would be a good and true ruler, 
guard them from their foes, maintain truth, punish 
sin, and protect the Church. Two of the bishops 
put on him the great mantle of the Norman dukes, 
crimson velvet and trimmed with ermine ; but it was 
so long that it lay in great folds on the ground. Then 
the archbishop crowned the little lad with a crown so 
wide and heavy that one of the barons had to hold 
it in its place. Last of all, they gave him his father's 
sword, taller than he, but he reached for the hilt and 
held it fast as he was carried back to his throne, 
though Count Bernard offered to carry it. Then all 
the noblemen did homage, from Duke Alan of Brit- 
tany down, and Richard swore in God's name to be 
the good lord of every one and to protect him from 
his foes. Perhaps some of the elder men who had 
followed Rolf the Ganger felt very tenderly toward 
this grandchild of their brave old leader, and the 
friends of kind-hearted Longsword meant to be loyal 
and very fatherly to his defenceless boy, upon whom 
so much honor, and anxiety too, had early fallen. 

See what a change there was in Normandy since 
Rolf came, and what a growth in wealth and order- 
liness the dukedom had made. All the feudal or 
clannish spirit had had time to grow, and Normandy 
ranked as the first of the French duchies. Still it 
would be some time yet before the Danes and Nor- 
wegians of the north could cease to think of the 
Normans as their brothers and cousins, and begin to 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. J\ 

call them Frenchmen or Welskes, or any of the 
other names they called the people in France or 
Britain. It was sure to be a hard dukedom enough 
for the boy-duke to rule, and all his youth was spent 
in stormy, dangerous times. 

His father had stood godfather — a very close tie — 
to the heir of the new king of France, who was 
called Louis, and he was also at peace with Count 
Hugh of Paris. Soon after Longsword's death King 
Louis appeared in Rouen at the head of a body of 
troops, and demanded that he should be considered 
the guardian and keeper of young Richard during 
his minority. He surprised the counts who were in 
Rouen, and who were just then nearly defenceless. 
It would never do for them to resist Louis and his 
followers ; they had no troops at hand ; and they 
believed that the safest thing was to let Richard go, 
for a time at any rate. It was true that he was the 
king's vassal, and Normandy had always done hom- 
age to the kings of France. And with a trusty 
baron for protection the boy was sent away out of 
pleasant Normandy to the royal castle of Laon. 
The Rouen people were not very gracious to King 
Louis, and that made him angry. Indeed, the 
French king's dominion was none too large, and 
everybody knew that he would be glad to possess 
himself of the dukedom, or of part of it, and that he 
was not unfriendly to Arnulf, who had betrayed 
William Longsword. So the barons who were 
gathered at Rouen, and all the Rouen people, must 
have felt very anxious and very troubled about 
Richard's safety when the French horsemen gal- 



J 2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

loped away with him. From time to time news 
came that the boy was not being treated very well. 
At any rate he was not having the attention and care 
that belonged to a duke of Normandy. The duke- 
dom was tempestuous enough at any time, with its 
Northman party, and its French party, and their 
jealousies and rivalries. But they were all loyal to 
the boy-duke who belonged to both, and who could 
speak the pirate's language as well as that of the 
French court. If his life were brought to an un- 
timely end what a falling apart there would be among 
those who were not unwilling now to be his subjects. 
No wonder that the old barons were so eager to get 
Richard home again, and so distrustful of the polite 
talk and professions of affection and interest on 
King Louis's part. Louis had two little sons of his 
own, and it would be very natural if he sometimes 
remembered that, if Richard were dead, one of his 
own boys might be Duke of Normandy instead — that 
is, if old Count Hugh of Paris did not stand in the way. 
So away went Richard from his pleasant country 
of Normandy, with its apple and cherry orchards 
and its comfortable farms, from his Danes and his 
Normans, and the perplexed and jealous barons. A 
young nobleman, named Osmond de Centeville, was 
his guardian, and promised to take the best of care 
of his young charge, but when they reached the 
grim castle of Laon they found that King Louis' 
promises were not likely to be kept. Gerberga, the 
French queen, was a brave woman, but eager to 
forward the fortunes of her own household, and 
nobody took much notice of the boy who was of so 



RICHARD THE -FEARLESS. 73 

much consequence at home in his own castle of 
Rouen. We cannot help wondering why Richard's 
life did not come to a sudden end like his father's, 
but perhaps Osmond's good care and vigilance gave 
no chance for treachery to do its work. 

After a while the boy-duke began to look very pale 
and ill, poor little fellow, and Osmond watched him 
tenderly, and soon the rest of the people in the 
castle had great hopes that he was going to die. 
The tradition says that he was not sick at all in 
reality, but made himself appear so by refusing to 
eat or sleep. At any rate he grew so pale and feeble 
that one night everybody was so sure that he could 
not live that they fell to rejoicing and had a great 
banquet. There was no need to stand guard any 
longer over the little chief of the pirates, and nobody 
takes much notice of Osmond even as he goes to 
and from the tower room with a long face. 

Late in the evening he speaks of his war-horse 
which he has forgotten to feed and litter down, and 
goes to his stable in the courtyard with a huge 
bundle of straw. The castle servants see him, but 
let him pass as usual, and the banquet goes on, and 
the lights burn dim, and the night wanes before any- 
body finds out that there was a thin little lad, keep- 
ing very still, in the straw that Osmond carried, and 
that the two companions were riding for hours in the 
starlight toward the Norman borders. Hurrah ! we 
can almost hear the black horse's feet clatter and 
ring along the roads, and take a long breath of relief 
when we know that the fugitives get safe to Crecy 
castle within the Norman lines next morning. 



74 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

King Louis was very angry and sent a message 
that Richard must come back, but the barons re- 
fused, and before long there was a great battle. 
There could really be no such thing as peace be- 
tween the Normans and the kingdom of France, 
and Louis had grown more and more anxious to rid 
the country of the hated pirates. Hugh the Great 
and he were enemies at heart and stood in each 
other's way, but Louis made believe that he was 
friendly, and granted his formidable rival some new 
territory, and displayed his royal condescension in 
various ways. Each of these rulers was more than 
willing to increase his domain by appropriating Nor- 
mandy, and when we remember the two parties in 
Normandy itself we cannot help thinking that Rich- 
ard's path was going to be a very rough one to 
follow. His father's enemy, Arnulf of Flanders, was 
the enemy of Normandy still, and always in secret 
or open league with Louis. The province of Brittany 
was hard to control, and while William Longsword 
had favored the French party in his dominions he 
had put Richard under the care of the Northmen. 
Yet this had not been done in a way to give com- 
plete satisfaction, for the elder Danes clung to their 
old religion and cared nothing for the solemn rites 
of the Church, by means of which Richard had been 
invested with the dukedom. They were half insulted 
by such silly pageantry, yet it was not to the leaders 
of the old pirate element in the dukedom, but to the 
Christianized Danes, whose head-quarters were at 
Rouen, that the guardianship of the heir of Nor- 
mandy had been given. He did not belong to the 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 7$ 

Christians, but to the Norsemen, yet not to the 
old pagan vikings either. It was a curious and per- 
haps a very wise thing to do, but the Danes little 
thought when Longsword promised solemnly to put 
his son under their charge, that he meant the Chris- 
tian Danes like Bernard and Botho. There was one 
thing that all the Normans agreed upon, that they 
would not be the vassals and lieges of the king of 
France. They had promised it in their haste when 
the king had come and taken young Richard away 
to Laon, but now that they had time to consider, 
they saw what a mistake it had been to make Louis 
the boy-duke's guardian. They meant to take fast 
hold of Richard now that he had come back, and so 
the barons were summoned, and when Louis ap- 
peared again in Normandy, with the spirit and 
gallantry of a great captain, to claim the guardian- 
ship and to establish Christianity, as well as to 
avenge the murder of Longsword, if you please ! — 
he found a huge army ready to meet him. 

Nobody can understand how King Louis managed 
to keep such a splendid army as his in good condi- 
tion through so many reverses. He had lost heavily 
from his lands and his revenues, and there were no 
laws, so far as we know, that compelled military 
service, but the ranks were always full, and the 
golden eagle of Charlemagne was borne before the 
king on the march, and the banner of that great em- 
peror, his ancestor, fluttered above his pavilion when 
the army halted. As for the Danes (which means 
simply the Northern or Pirate party of Normandy), 
they were very unostentatious soldiers and fought 



76 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

on foot, going to meet the enemy with sword and 
shield. Some of them had different emblems on their 
shields now, instead of the old red and white stripes 
of the shields that used to be hung along the sides 
of the long-ships, and they carried curious weapons, 
even a sort of flail that did great execution. 

We must pass quickly over the long account of a 
feigned alliance between Hugh of Paris and King 
Louis, their agreement to share Normandy be- 
tween themselves, and then Hugh's withdrawal, and 
Bernard of Senlis's deep-laid plot against both the 
enemies of Normandy. It was just at this time that 
there was a great deal of enmity between Normandy 
and Brittany, and the Normans seem to be in a more 
rebellious and quarrelsome state than usual. If 
there was one thing that they clung to every one of 
them, and would not let go, it was this : that Nor- 
mandy should not be divided, that it should be kept 
as Rolf had left it. Sooner than yield to the plots 
and attempted grasping and divisions of Hugh and 
Arnulf of Flanders, and Louis, they would send to 
the North for a fleet of dragon ships and conquer 
their country over again. They knew very well that 
however bland and persuasive their neighbors might 
become when they desired to have a truce, they al- 
ways called them filthy Normans and pirates behind 
their backs, and were always hoping for a chance to 
push them off the soil of Normandy. There was no 
love lost between the dukedoms and the kingdom. 

After some time Louis was persuaded again that 
Normandy desired nothing so much as to call him 
her feudal lord and sovereign. Bernard de Senlis as- 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 



77 




sured him, for the sake of peace, that they 
were no longer in doubt of their un- 
happiness in having a child for a ruler, 
that they were anxious to return to 
the old pledge of loyalty that Rolf 
gave to the successor of Charle- 
magne. He must be the over-lord 
again and must come and occupy his humble 
city of Rouen. They were tired of being har- 
ried, their land was desolated, and they would 
do any thing to be released from the sorrows 
and penalties of war. Much to our surprise, 
and very likely to his own astonishment too, we 
find King Louis presently going to Rouen, and 
being received there with all manner of civility 
and deference. Every- 
body hated him just as 
much as ever, and dis- 
trusted him, and no 
doubt Louis returned 
the compliment, but to 
outward view he was be- 
loved and honored by 
his tributaries, and the 
Norman city seemed 
quiet and particularly 
servile to its new ruler 
and his bragging troops. 
Nobody understood ex- 
actly why they had won 
their ends with so little 

FLAIL AS A MILITARY 

weapon (i). trouble, and everybody 




7 8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

was on the watch for some amazing counterplot, and 
dared not trust either friend or foe. As for Louis, 
they had shamed and tormented him too much to 
make him a very affectionate sovereign now. To be 
sure he ruled over Normandy at last, but that brought 
him perplexity enough. In the city the most worth- 
less of his followers was putting on the airs of a 
conqueror and aggravating the Norman subjects un- 
bearably. The Frenchmen who had followed the 
golden eagle of Charlemagne so long without any 
reward but glory and a slender subsistence, began to 
clamor for their right to plunder the dukedom and 
to possess themselves of a reward which had been 
too long withheld already. 

Hugh, of Paris, and King Louis had made a bold 
venture together for the conquest of Normandy, 
and apparently succeeded to their heart's content. 
Hugh had besieged Bayeux ; and the country, be- 
tween the two assailants, had suffered terribly. Ber- 
nard the Dane, or Bernard de Senlis either, knew no 
other way to reestablish themselves than by keeping 
Louis in Rouen and cheating him by a show of com- 
plete submission. The Normans must have had 
great faith in the Danish Bernard when they sub- 
mitted to make unconditional surrender to Louis. 
Could it be that he had been faithless to the boy- 
duke's rights, and allowed him to be contemptuously 
disinherited ? 

Now that the king was safely bestowed in Rouen, 
his new liegemen began to say very disagreeable 
things. Louis had made a great fool of himself at a 
banquet soon after he reached Rolf's tower in the 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 79 

Norman city. Bernard the Dane, had spread a fa- 
mous feast for him and brought his own good red 
wine. Louis became very talkative, and announced 
openly that he was going to be master of the Nor- 
mans at last, and would make them feel his bonds, 
and shame them well. But Bernard the Dane left 
his own seat at the table and placed himself next the 
king. Presently he began, in most ingenious ways, to 
taunt him with having left himself such a small 
share of the lands and wealth of the ancient province 
of Neustria. He showed him that Hugh of Paris 
had made the best of the bargain, and that he had 
given up a great deal more than there was any need 
of doing. Bernard described in glowing colors the 
splendid dominions he had sacrificed by letting his 
rival step in and take first choice. Louis had not 
chosen to take a seventh part of the whole duke- 
dom, and Hugh of Paris was master of all Nor- 
mandy beyond the Seine, a beautiful country watered 
by fine streams whose ports were fit for commerce 
and ready for defence. More than this ; he had let 
ten thousand fighting men slip through his hands and 
become the allies of his worst enemy. And so 
Bernard and his colleagues plainly told Louis that he 
had made a great mistake. They would consent to 
receive him as their sovereign and guardian of the 
young duke, but Normandy must not be divided ; to 
that they would never give their consent. 

Louis listened, half dazed to these suggestions, 
and when he was well sobered he understood that he 
was attacked on every side. Hugh of Paris had de- 
clared that if Louis broke faith with him now h a 



8o THE STORY OE THE NORMANS. 

would make an end to their league, and Louis knew 
that he would be making a fierce enemy if he lis- 
tened to the Normans ; yet if he refused, they 
would turn against him. 

On the other hand, if he permitted Hugh to keep 
his new territory, he was only strengthening a man 
who was his enemy at heart, and who sooner or later 
would show his antagonism. Louis's own soldiers 
were becoming very rebellious. They claimed over 
and over again that Rolf had had no real right to 
the Norman lands, but since he had divided them 
among his followers, all the more reason now that 
the conquerors, the French owners of Normandy, 
should be put into possession of what they had won 
back again at last. They demanded that the victors 
should enforce their right, and not only expressed a 
wish for Bernard the Dane's broad lands, but for his 
handsome young wife. They would not allow that 
the Normans had any rights at all. When a rumor 
of such wicked plans began to be whispered through 
Rouen and the villages, it raised a great excitement. 
There would have been an insurrection at once, if 
shrewd old Bernard had not again insisted upon 
patience and submission. His wife even rebelled, 
and said that she would bury herself in a convent ; 
and Espriota, young Richard's mother, thriftily re- 
solved to provide herself with a protector, and mar- 
ried Sperling, a rich miller of Vaudreuil. 

Hugh of Paris was Bernard's refuge in these 
troubles, and now we see what the old Dane had 
been planning all the time. Hugh had begun to be- 
lieve that there was no use in trying to hold his new 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 8 1 

possessions of Normandy beyond the Seine, and 
that he had better return to his old cordial alliance 
with the Normans and uphold Rolf the Ganger's 
dukedom. So the Danish party, Christians and pa- 
gans, and the Normans of the French party, and 
Hugh of Paris, all entered into a magnificent plot 
against Louis. The Normans might have been con- 
tented with expelling the intruders, and a renuncia- 
tion of the rights Louis had usurped, but Hugh the 
Great was very anxious to capture Louis himself. 

Besides Hugh of Paris and the Norman barons 
who upheld the cause of young Richard, there was 
a third very important ally in the great rebellion 
against King Louis of France. When Gorm a 
famous old king of Denmark had died some years 
before, the successor to his throne was Harold 
Blaatand or Bluetooth, a man of uncommonly fine 
character for those times — a man who kept his 
promises and was noted for his simplicity and good 
faith and loyalty to his word. Whatever reason may 
have brought Harold to Normandy at this time, there 
he was, the firm friend of the citizens of the Bayeux 
country, and we find him with his army at Cherbourg. 

All Normandy was armed and ready for a grand 
fight with the French, though it appears that at first 
there was an attempt at a peaceful conference. This 
went on very well at first, the opposing armies being 
drawn up on either side of the river Dive, when who 
should appear but Herluin of Montreuil,the insolent 
traitor who was more than suspected of having 
caused the murder of William Longsword. Since 
then he had ruled in Rouen as Louis's deputy and 



82 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

stirred up more hatred against himself, but now he 
took a prominent place in the French ranks, and 
neither Normans nor Danes could keep their tempers 
any longer. So the peaceful conference was abruptly 
ended, and the fight began. 

Every thing went against the French : many counts 
were killed ; the golden eagle of Charlemagne and the 
silk hangings and banners of the king's tent had only 
been brought for the good of these Normans, who 
captured them. As for the king himself, he was 
taken prisoner; some say that he was led away from 
the battle-field and secreted by a loyal gentleman of 
that neighborhood, who hid him in a secluded 
bowery island in the river near by, and that the poor 
gentleman's house and goods were burnt and his wife 
and children seized, before he would tell anything 
of the defeated monarch's hiding-place. There is 
another story that Harold Blaatand and Louis met 
in hand-to-hand combat, and the Dane led away the 
Frank as the prize of his own bravery. The king 
escaped and was again captured and imprisoned 
in Rouen. No bragging now of what he would do 
with the Normans, or who should take their lands 
and their wives. Poor Louis was completely beaten, 
but there was still a high spirit in the man and in 
his brave wife Gerberga, who seems to have been his 
equal in courage and resource. After a while Louis 
only regained his freedom by giving up his castle of 
Laon to Hugh of Paris, and the successor of Charle- 
magne was reduced to the pitiful poverty of being 
king only of Compiegne. Yet he was still king, and 
nobody was more ready to give him the title than 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 83 

Hugh of Paris himself, though the diplomatic treach- 
eries went on as usual. 

Harold had made a triumphant progress through 
Normandy after the great fight was over, and all the 
people were very grateful to him, and it is said that 
he reestablished the laws of Rolf, and confirmed the 
authority of the boy-duke. We cannot understand 
very well at this distance just why Harold should 
have been in Normandy at all with his army to make 
himself so useful, but there he was, and unless one 
story is only a repetition of the other, he came back 
again, twenty years after, in the same good-natured 
way, and fought for the Normans again. 

Poor Louis certainly had a very hard time, and 
for a while his pride was utterly broken ; but he was 
still young and hoped to retrieve his unlucky for- 
tunes. Richard, the young duke, was only thirteen 
years old when Normandy broke faith with France. 
He had not yet earned his title of the Fearless, 
which has gone far toward making him one of the 
heroes of history, and was waiting to begin his real 
work and influence in the dukedom. Louis had 
sympathy enough of a profitless sort from his Ger- 
man and English neighbors. England sent an em- 
bassy to demand his release, and Hugh of Paris 
refused most ungraciously. Later, the king of the 
Germans or East Franks determined to invade 
Hugh's territory, and would not even send a message 
or have any dealings with him first ; and when he 
found that the German army was really assembling, 
the Count of Paris yielded. But, as we have already 
seen, Louis had to give up a great piece of his king- 



84 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

dom. As far as words went, he was king again. He 
had lost his authority while he was in prison, but it 
was renewed with proper solemnity, and Hugh was 
again faithful liegeman and homager of his former 
prisoner. The other princes of Europe, at least those 
who were neighbors, followed Hugh's example — all 
except one, if we may believe the Norman historians. 
On the banks of the Epte, where Rolf had first done 
homage to the French king, the Norman duchy was 
now set free from any over-lordship, and made an in- 
dependent country. The duke was still called duke, 
and not king, yet he was completely the monarch of 
Normandy, and need give no tribute nor obedience. 

Before long, however, Richard, or his barons for 
him — wily Bernard the Dane, and Bernard de 
Senlis, and the rest — commended the lands and men 
of Normandy to the Count of Paris, benefactor and 
ally. The Norman historians do not say much about 
this, for they were not so proud of it as of their 
being made free from the rule of France. We are 
certain that the Norman soldiers followed Hugh in 
his campaigns, for long after this during the reign of 
Richard the Fearless there were some charters and 
state papers written which are still preserved, and 
which speak of Hugh of Paris as Richard's over-lord. 

There are so few relics of that time that we 
must note the coinage of the first Norman money in 
Richard's reign. The chronicles follow the old 
fashion of the sagas in sounding the praises of one 
man — sometimes according to him all the deeds of 
his ancestors besides ; but, unfortunately, they refe/ 
little to general history, and tell few things about the 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 8$ 

people. We find Normandy and England coming 
into closer relations in this reign, and the first men- 
tion of the English kings and of affairs across the 
Channel, lends a new interest to our story of the 
Normans. Indeed, to every Englishman and Ameri- 
can the roots and beginnings of English history are 
less interesting in themselves than for their hints and 
explanations of later chapters and events. 

Before we end this account of Duke Richard's 
boyhood, we must take a look at one appealing frag- 
ment of it which has been passed by in the story of 
the wars and tumults and strife of parties. Once 
King Louis was offered his liberty on the condition 
that he would allow the Normans to take his son 
and heir Lothair as pledge of his return and good 
behavior. No doubt the French king and Queen 
Gerberga had a consciousness that they had not been 
very kind to Richard, and so feared actual retalia-' 
tion. But Gerberga offered, not the heir to the 
throne, but her younger child Carloman, a puny, 
weak little boy, and he was taken as hostage instead, 
and soon died in Rouen. Miss Yonge has written a 
charming story called " The Little Duke," in which 
she draws a touching picture of this sad little exile. 
It makes Queen Gerberga appear very hard and 
cruel, and it seems as if she must have been to let the 
poor child go among his enemies. We must remem- 
ber, though, that these times were very hard, and 
one cannot help respecting the poor queen, who was 
very brave after all, and fought as gallantly as any 
one to keep her besieged and struggling kingdom 
out of the hands of its assailants. 



86 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

We must pass over the long list of petty wars be- 
tween Louis and Hugh. Richard's reign was stormy 
to begin with, but for some years before his death 
Normandy appears to have been tolerably quiet. 
Louis had seen his darkest times when Normandy 
shook herself free from French rule, and from that 
hour his fortunes bettered. . There was one disagree- 
ment between Otto of Germany and Louis, aided by 
the king of Burgundy, against the two dukes, Hugh 
and Richard, and before Louis died he won back 
again the greater part of his possessions at Laon. 
Duke Hugh's glories were somewhat eclipsed for a 
time, and he was excommunicated by the Archbishop 
of Rheims and took no notice of that, but by and by 
when the Pope of Rome himself put him under a 
ban, he came to terms. The Normans were his 
constant allies, but there is not much to learn about 
•their own military enterprises. The enthusiastic 
Norman writers give a glowing account of the failure 
of the confederate kings to capture Rouen, but say 
less about their marauding tour through the duchies 
of Normandy and Hugh's dominions. Rouen was a 
powerful city by this time, and a famous history be- 
longed to her already. There are some fragments 
left still of the Rouen of that day, which is very 
surprising when we remember how battered and 
beleaguered the old town was through century after 
century. 

Every thing was apparently prospering with the 
king of France when he suddenly died, only thirty- 
three years of age, in spite of his tempestuous reign 
and always changing career. He must have felt like a 



RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 



87 



very old man, one would think, and somehow one 
imagines him and Gerberga, his wife, as old people 
in their Castle of Laon. Lothair was the next king, 
and Richard, who so lately was a child too, became 
the elder ruler of his time. Hugh of Paris died two 




ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN (ROUEN) 



years later, and the old enemy of Normandy, Arnulf 
of Flanders, soon followed him. The king of Ger- 
many, Otto, outlived all these, but Richard lived 
longer than he or his son. 



88 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

The duchy of France, Hugh's dominion, passed 
to his young son, Hugh Capet, a boy of thirteen. 
When this Hugh grew up he did homage to Lothair, 
but Richard gave his loyalty to Hugh of Paris's son. 
The wars went on, and before many years went over 
Hugh Capet extinguished the succession of Charle- 
magne's heirs to the throne of France, and was 
crowned king himself, so beginning the reign of 
France proper ; as powerful and renowned a kingdom 
as Europe saw through many generations. By 
throwing off the rule of German princes, and achiev- 
ing independence of the former French dynasty, 
an order of things began that was not overthrown 
until our own day. Little by little the French 
crown annexed the dominions of all its vassals, even 
the duchy of Normandy, but that was not to be for 
many years yet. I hope we have succeeded in 
getting at least a hint of the history of France from 
the time it was the Gaul of the Roman empire ; 
and the empire of Charlemagne, and later, of the frag- 
ments of that empire, each a province or kingdom 
under a ruler of its own, which were reunited in one 
confederation under one king of France. All this 
time Europe is under the religious rule of Rome, and 
in Richard the Fearless's later years we find him the 
benefactor of the Church, living close by the Minster 
of Fecamp and buried in its shadow at last. ' There 
was a deep stone chest which was placed by Duke 
Richard's order near one of the minster doors, where 
the rain might fall upon it that dropped from the 
holy roof above. For many years, on Saturday 
evenings, the chest was filled to the brim with 



MCBAkb THE FEARLESS. 89 

wheat, a luxury in those days, and the poor came 
and filled their measures and held out their hands 
afterward for five shining pennies, while the lame 
and sick people were visited in their homes by the 
almoner of the great church. There was much talk 
about this hollowed block of stone, but when Richard 
died in 996 at the end of his fifty-five years' reign, 
after a long, lingering illness, his last command was 
that he should be buried in the chest and lie " there 
where the foot should tread, and the dew and the 
waters of heaven should fall." Beside this church 
of the Holy Trinity at Fecamp he built the abbey of 
St. Wandville, the Rouen cathedral, and the great 
church of the Benedictines at St. Ouen. New struc- 
tures have risen upon the old foundations, but 
Richard's name is still connected with the places of 
worship that he cared for. 

" Richard Sans-peur has long been our favorite 
hero," says Sir Francis Palgrave, who has written 
perhaps the fullest account of the Third Duke ; " we 
have admired the fine boy, nursed on his father's 
knee whilst the three old Danish warriors knelt and 
rendered their fealty. During Richard's youth, 
adolescence, and age our interest in his varied, 
active, energetic character has never flagged, and we 
go with him in court and camp till the day of his 
death." 



V. 



DUKE RICHARD TPIE GOOD. 

" Then would he sing achievements high 
And circumstance of chivalry." — SCOTT. 



Richard the Fearless had several sons, and 
when he lay dying his nobles asked him to say who 
should be his successor. " He who bears my name," 
whispered the old duke, and added a moment later : 
" Let the others take the oaths of fealty, acknowl- 
edge Richard as their superior ; and put their hands 
in his, and receive from him those lands which I 
will name to you." 

So Richard the Good came to his dukedom, with 
a rich inheritance in every way from the father who 
had reigned so successfully, and his brothers Geoffry, 
Mauger, William, and Robert, accepted their por- 
tions of the dukedom, to which Richard added more 
lands of his own accord. 

During this reign there were many changes, some 
very gradual and natural ones, for Normandy was 
growing more French and less Scandinavian all the 
time, and the relationship grew stronger and stronger 
between vigorous young Normandy and troubled, 
failing England. Later we shall see how our Nor- 

90 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 91 

mans gave a new impulse to England, but already 
there are signs and forebodings of what must come 
to pass in the days of Richard the Good's grandson, 
William the Conqueror. 

We first hear now of many names which are great 
names in Normandy and England to this day. "It 
seems as if there were never any region more 
peopled with men of known deeds, known names, 
known passions and known crimes," says Palgrave ; 
and the Norman annals abound with historical titles 
"rendered illustrious by the illusions of time and 
blazonry which imagination imparts." It is very 
strange how few records there are, among the 
state papers in France, of all this period. Ever}' 
important public matter in England was caref un- 
recorded long before this, but with all the proverbial 
love of going to law, and all the well-ordered priest- 
hood, and good education of the upper classes, there 
are only a few scattered charters until Normandy is 
really merged in France. This almost corresponds 
to the absence, in the literary world, of papers 
relating to Shakespeare, which is such a puzzle 
to antiquarians. Here was a man well-known and 
beloved both in his native village and the world of 
London, a man who must have covered thousands 
of pages with writing, and written letters and signed 
his name times without number, and yet not one of 
his manuscripts and very few signatures can be found. 
Only the references to him in contemporary litera- 
ture remain to give us any facts at all about the 
greatest of English writers. Of far less noteworthy 
men, of his time and before that, we can make up 



$2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

reasonably full biographies. And Normandy is 
known only through the records of other nations, 
and the traditions and reports of romancing chroni- 
clers. There are no long lists of men and money, and 
no treasurer or general of Rolf's, or Longsword's 
time has left us his accounts. Rolf's brother, who 
went to Iceland while Rolf came to Normandy, 
in the tyrannical reign of Harold Haarfager, estab- 
lished in that storm-bound little country a nation 
of scholars and record-makers. Perhaps it was easier 
to write there where the only enemies were ice and 
snow and darkness and the fury of the sea and wind. 

Yet we can guess at a great deal about the condi- 
tion of Normandy. There was so much going to 
and fro, such a lively commerce and transportation 
of goods, that we know the old Roman roads had 
been kept in good repair, and that many others must 
have been built as the population increased. The 
famous fairs which were held make us certain that 
there was a large business carried on, and besides the 
maintenance and constant use of a large army, in 
some years there was also a thrifty devotion to mer- 
cantile matters and agriculture. Foreign artisans 
and manufacturers were welcomed to the Norman 
provinces, and soon formed busy communities like 
the Flemish craftsmen, weavers and leather-makers, 
at Falaise. The Normans had an instinctive liking 
for pomp and splendor ; so their tradesmen flourished, 
and their houses became more and more elegant, 
and must be carved and gilded like the dragon ships. 

A merry, liberal duke was this Richard ; fond of 
his court, and always ready to uphold Normandy's 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 93 

honor and his own when there was any fighting to 
be done. He had a great regard for his nobles, and we 
begin to find a great deal said about gentlemen ; the 
duke would have only gentlemen for his chosen fol- 
lowers, and the aristocrats make themselves felt 
more distinctly than before. The rule of the best is 
a hard thing to manage, it sinks already into a rule 
of the lucky, the pushing, or the favored in the Rouen 
court. The power and reign of chivalry begins to 
blossom now far and wide. 

We begin to hear rumors too on the other side 
that there were wrong distinctions between man and 
man, and tyranny that grew hard to bear, and one 
Norman resents the truth that his neighbor is a 
better and richer man than he, and moreover has the 
right to make him a servant, and to make laws for 
him. The Norman citizens were equal in civil rights 
— that is to say, they were not taxed without their 
own consent, need pay no tolls, and might hunt and 
fish ; all could do these things except the villeins* and 
peasants, who really composed the mass of the native 
population, the descendants of those who lived in 
Normandy before Rolf came there. Even the 
higher clergy did not form part of the nobility and 
gentry at first, and in later years there was still a 
difference in rank and privileges between the priests 
of Norwegian and Danish race and the other eccle- 
siastics. 

Before Richard the Good had been long on his 
throne there was a great revolt and uprising of the 
peasantry, who evidently did not think that their new 
* Farm laborers ; countrymen. 



94 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

duke deserved his surname at all. These people 
conceived the idea of destroying the inequality of 
races, so that Normandy should hold only one na- 
tion, as it already held one name. We cannot help 
being surprised at the caieful political organization 
of the peasantry, and at finding that they established 
a regular parliament with two representatives from 
every district. In all the villages and hamlets, after 
the day's work was over, they came together to talk 
over their wrongs or to listen to some speaker more 
eloquent than his fellows. They " made a commune," 
which anticipates later events in the history of France 
in a surprising way. Freeman says that " such a con- 
stitution could hardly have been extemporized by 
mere peasants," and believes that the disturbance was 
founded in a loyalty to the local customs and rights 
which were fast being trampled under foot, and that 
the rebels were only trying to defend their time- 
honored inheritance. The liberty which they were 
eager to grasp might have been a great good, 
scattered as it would have been over a great extent 
of country, instead of being won by separate cities. 
The ancient Norman constitutions of the Channel 
Islands, Jersey and Guernsey and the rest, antiquated 
as they seem, breathe to-day a spirit of freedom 
worthy of the air of England or Switzerland or Nor- 
way. 

The peasants clamored for their right to be equal 
with their neighbors, and no doubt many a small land- 
holder joined them, who did not wish to swear fealty 
to his over-lord. In the Roman de Ron, an old chron- 
icle which keeps together many traditions about early 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 95 

Normandy that else might have been forgotten, we 
find one of these piteous harangues. Perhaps it is 
not authentic, but it gives the spirit of the times so 
well that it ought to have a place here: 

" The lords do nothing but evil ; we cannot obtain 
either reason or justice from them ; they have all, 
they take all, eat all, and make us live in poverty and 
suffering. Every day with us is a day of pain ; we 
gain nought by our labors, there are so many dues 
and services. Why do we allow ourselves to be thus 
treated ? Let us place ourselves beyond their power ; 
we too are men, we have the same limbs, the same 
height, the same power of endurance, and we are a 
hundred to one. Let us swear to defend each other ; 
let us be firmly knit together, and no man shall be 
lord over us ; we shall be free from tolls and taxes, 
free to fell trees, to take game and fish, and do as 
we will in all things, in the wood, in the meadow, on 
the water! " 

At this time the larger potion of Normandy was 
what used to be called forest. That word meant 
something more than woodland ; it belonged then 
to tracts of wild country, woodland and moorland 
and marshes, and these were the possession of the 
crown. The peasants had in the old days a right, or 
a custom at any rate, of behaving as if the forests 
were their own, but more and more they had been 
restricted, and the unaccustomed yoke galled them 
bitterly. Besides their being forbidden to hunt and 
fish in the forests, the water-ways were closed from 
them, taxes imposed, and their time and labor de- 
manded on the duke's lands. There had been grants 



96 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

of these free tracts of country to the new nobility, 
and with the lands the new lords claimed also the 
service of the peasantry. 

The people do not appear to have risen against 
the duke himself, so much as against their immedi- 
ate oppressors, and it was one of these who was to 
be their punisher. You remember that Richard the 
Fearless' mother, Espriota, married, in the troublous 
times of his boyhood, a rich countryman called 
Sperling. They had a son called Raoul of Ivry, 
who seems to have been high in power and favor 
with the second Richard, his half-brother, and who 
now entered upon his cruel task with evident liking. 
He had been brought up among the country-folk, 
although he stood at this time next to the duke in 
office. 

He was very crafty, and sent spies all through 
Normandy to find out when the Assembly or Parlia- 
ment was to be held, and then dispersed his troops 
according to the spies' report, and seized upon all the 
deputies and these peasants who were giving oaths of 
allegiance to their new commanders. Whether from 
design or from anger and prejudice Raoul next treated 
his poor prisoners with terrible cruelty. He maimed 
them in every way, putting out their eyes, cutting 
off their hands or feet ; he impaled them alive, and 
tortured them with melted lead. Those who lived 
through their sufferings were sent home to be pa- 
raded through the streets as a warning. So fear 
prevailed over even the love of liberty in their brave 
hearts, for the association of Norman peasants was 
broken up, and a sad resignation took the place, for 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 97 

hundreds of years, of the ardor and courage which 
had been lighted only to go out again so quickly. 

There was another rebellion besides this, of which 
we have some account, and one man instead of a 
whole class was the offender. One of Richard's 
brothers, or half-brothers, the son of an unknown 
mother, had received as his inheritance the county 
of Exmes, which held three very rich and thriving 
towns. These were Exmes, Argentan, and Falaise 
in which we have already learned that there was a 
colony of Flemings settled, skilful, industrious 
weavers and leather-makers and workers in cloth 
and metals. Falaise itself was already very old 
indeed, and there remain yet the ruins of an old 
Roman camp, claimed to belong to the time of 
Julius Caesar, beside the earliest specimen of that 
square gray tower which is really of earlier date 
though always associated with Norman feudalism. 
The Falaise Fair, which was of such renown in the 
days of the first dukes, is supposed to be the sur- 
vival of some pagan festival of vast antiquity. The 
name of Guibray, the suburb of Falaise which gave 
its name to the Fair, is said to be derived from the 
Gaulish word for mistletoe, and wherever we hear of 
mistletoe in ancient history it reminds us, not of 
merry-makings and Christmas holidays, but of the 
grim rites and customs of the Druids. 

William, Duke Richard's brother, does not seem 
to have been grateful for these rich possessions, and 
before long there is a complaint that he fails to re- 
spond to the royal summons, and that he will not 
render service or do homage in return for his hold- 



98 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ing. Raoul of Ivry promptly counselled the Duke 
to take arms against the offender. 

It was not long before William found himself a 
prisoner in the old tower of Rolf at Rouen. He 
was treated with great severity, and only avoided 
being hanged by making his escape in most romantic 
fashion. A compassionate lady contrived to supply 
him with a rope, and he came down from his high 
tower-window to the ground hand over hand. Lucki- 
ly he found none of his keepers waiting for him, and 
succeeded in getting out of the country. Raoul had 
been hunting his partisans, and now he had the 
pleasure of hunting William himself, by keeping 
spies on his track and forcing him from one danger 
to another until he was tired of his life, and boldly 
determined to go to his brother the Duke and beg 
for mercy. He was very fortunate, for Richard not 
only listened to him, and was not angry at being 
stopped on a day when he had gone out to amuse 
himself with hunting, but he pardoned the suppliant 
and pitied his trials and sufferings, and more than 
all, though he did not give back the forfeited county 
of Exmes, he did give him the county of Eu. We 
hear nothing of what Raoul thought of such a 
pleasant ending to the troubles after he had shown 
such zeal himself in pursuing and harassing the 
Duke's enemy. 

We must take a quick look at the relations be- 
tween Richard the Good and Hugh Capet, Hugh of 
Paris's successor, and Robert of France, Hugh Ca- 
pet's son, who was trying to uphold the fading dig- 
nities and power of the Carlovingian throne. Truly 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 99 

Charlemagne's glories were almost spent, and the 
new glories of the great house of the Capets were 
growing brighter and brighter. Our eyes already 
turn toward England and the part that the Norman 
dukes must soon play there, but there is something 
to say first about France. 

Robert and Richard were great friends ; they had 
many common interests, and were bound by solemn 
oaths and formal covenants of loyalty toward and 
protection of each other. Robert was a very honor- 
able man ; his relation to his father was a most 
curious one, for they seem to have been partners in 
royalty and to have reigned together over France. 
Richard the Fearless had done much to establish the 
throne of the Capets, and there was a firm bond be- 
tween the second Richard and young Robert, to 
whom he did homage. There were several powerful 
chiefs and tributaries, but Richard the Good out- 
ranks them all, and takes his place without question 
as the first peer of France. The golden lilies of 
France are already in flower, and though history is 
almost silent through the later years of Hugh Capet's 
life, there are signs of great activity within the king- 
dom and of growing prosperity. There is an old 
proverb : " Happy is that nation which has no his- 
tory!" and whenever we come to a time that the 
historians pass over or describe in a few sentences, 
we take a long breath and imagine the people busy 
in their homes and fields and shops, blest in the 
freedom from war and disorder. 

Robert of France was a famous wit and liked to 
play tricks upon his associates. He was a poet too, 



IOO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and wrote some beautiful Latin rhymes which are 
still sung in the churches. There is a good story 
about his being at Rome once at a solemn church 
festival. When he approached the altar he held a 
chalice in his hands with great reverence, and every- 
body could see that it held a roll of parchment. 

There could be no doubt that the king meant to 
bestow a splendid gift upon the church, perhaps, 
a duchy or even his whole kingdom ; but after the 
service was over, and the pope and cardinals, full of 
expectation, hurried to see what prize was put into 
their keeping, behold ! only a copy of Robert's 
famous chant " Cornelius Centurio ! " It was a sad 
disappointment indeed when they looked at this 
unexpected offering ! 

But Robert was more than a good comrade, he 
was a remarkably good king, as kings went ; he kept 
order and was brave, decided, and careful. It was 
true that he had fallen heir to a prosperous and well- 
governed kingdom, but it takes constant effort and 
watchfulness and ready strength to keep a kingdom 
or any lesser responsibilities up to the right level. 
He had one great trial, for his wife Bertha, being his 
first cousin, should not have been his wife according 
to the laws of the Roman Church. For the first time 
there was a pope of Rome who was from beyond the 
Alps, a German ; and Robert and he were on bad 
terms, which resulted in the excommunication of the 
king of France and the queen, and at one time they 
were put so completely under the ban that even 
their servants forsook them and the whole kingdom 
was thrown into confusion. The misery became so 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 1 01 

great that the poor queen presently had to be sep- 
arted from her husband, and this was the more 
grievous as she had no children, and so Robert was 
obliged to put her away from him and marry again 
for the sake of having an heir to the throne. Bertha's 
successor was very handsome, but very cross, and in 
later years King Robert used to say : " There are 
plenty of chickens in the nest, but my old hen pecks 
at me! " 

In spite of the new queen's bad temper there 
are a good many things to be said in her praise. 
She was much better educated than most women of 
her day, and she had a great admiration for Robert's 
poetry, and these things must have gone far to make 
up for her faults. 

Duke Richard's marriage was a very fortunate 
one. His sister Hawisa, of whom he was guardian, 
was asked in marriage by Duke Godfrey of Brittany, 
and this was a very welcome alliance, since it bound 
the two countries closer together than ever before, 
and made them forget the rivalries which had some- 
times caused serious trouble. Especially this was 
true when a little later Richard himself married 
Godfrey's sister Judith, who was distinguished for 
her wisdom. They had a most splendid wedding at 
the Abbey of St. Michael's Mount, and in course of 
time one of their daughters married the Count of 
Burgundy and one the Count of Flanders. 

In spite of much immorality and irregularity in 
those days, there was enough that was proper and 
respectable in the alliances of the noble families, 
and we catch many a glimpse of faithful lovers and 



102 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

gallant love-making. It was often said that Nor- 
mandy's daughters did as much for the well-being of 
the country as her sons, and when we read the lists 
of grand marriages we can understand that the 
dukes' daughters won as many provinces by their 
beauty as the sons did by their bravery in war. 

It is hard to keep the fortunes of all these races 
and kingdoms clear in our minds. We cannot help 
thinking of England, and looking at all this early his- 
tory of the Normans and their growth in relation to 
it. Then we must keep track of the Danes and 
Northmen, who have by no means outgrown their 
old traits and manners, though their cousins in Nor- 
mandy have given up privateering and the long ships. 
The history of France makes a sort of background 
for Normandy and England both. 

These marriages of which I have just told you 
greatly increased the magnificence and the power of 
the Norman duchy and widened the territory in 
every way. The Norman dukes could claim the 
right to interfere in the affairs of those states to 
which they were allied, and they improved their op- 
portunities. But the most important of all the alli- 
ances has not been spoken of at all — the marriage of 
Richard the Fearless' daughter Emma to vEthelred 
the Unready of England. 

yEthelred himself was the black sheep of his illus- 
trious family — a long line of noble men they were 
for the most part. In that age much of the 
character of a nation's history depended upon its 
monarch, and it is almost impossible to tell the for- 
tunes of a country except by giving the biographies 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. I03 

of the reigning king. This ^Ethelred seems to have 
had energy enough, but he began many enterprises 
and never ended them, and wasted a great deal of 
strength on long, needless expeditions, and does not 
appear to have made effective resistance to the ene- 
mies who came knocking at the very gates of Eng- 
land. He had no tact and little bravery, and was 
given to putting his trust in unworthy and treacher- 
ous followers. ^Ethelred was the descendant of good 
King ^Elfred and his noble successors, but his own 
kingdom was ready to fall to pieces before he reigned 
over it very long, and his reign of thirty-eight years 
came near to being the ruin of England. There 
were two or three men who helped him in the evil 
work, who were greater traitors at heart than ^Ethel- 
red himself, and we can hardly understand why they 
were restored to favor after their treason and sel- 
fishness were discovered. As one historian says, if 
we could only have a few of the private letters, of 
which we have such abundance two or three cen- 
turies later, they would be the key to many diffi- 
culties. 

The Danes were nibbling at the shores of Eng- 
land as rats would gnaw at a biscuit. They grew 
more and more troublesome. Over in Normandy, 
Richard the Good was treating these same Danes 
like friends, and allowing them to come into his 
harbors to trade with the Norman merchants. In 
the Cotentin country they found a people much like 
themselves, preserving many old traditions, and 
something of the northern speech. The Cotentin 
lands were poor and rocky, but the hills were crowded 



104 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

with castles, well armed and well fortified, and the men 
were brave soldiers and sailors, true descendants of 
the old vikings. They sought their fortunes on the 
sea too, and we can trace the names of these Cotentin 
barons and their followers through the army of 
William the Conqueror to other castles in the broad 
English lands that were won in less than a hundred 
years from ^Ethelred's time. Very likely some of 
these Cotentin Normans were in league with the 
northern Danes who made their head-quarters on 
the Norman shores, and went plundering across the 
Channel. Soon yEthelred grew very angry, which 
was to be expected, and he gathered his fleets at 
Portsmouth, and announced that he should bring 
Duke Richard back a captive in chains, and waste 
the whole offending country with fire, except the 
holy St. Michael's Mount. 

The fleet obeyed vEthelred's foolish orders, and 
went ashore at the mouth of the river Barfleur, 
only to find the Normans assembled from the whole 
surrounding country — not a trained army by any 
means, but an enraged peasantry, men and women 
alike, armed with shepherds' crooks, and reaping- 
hooks and flails, and in that bloody battle of Sang- 
lac, they completely routed the English. All the 
invaders who escaped crowded into six of their 
vessels and abandoned the rest, and hurried away as 
fast as they could go. This was a strong link in the 
chain that by and by would be long enough to hold 
England fast, and put her at the mercy of the Nor- 
mans altogether. There was peace made before 
very long, though the Normans considered them- 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 



I05 



selves to have been grievously insulted, and laughed 
at the English for being so well whipped. Perpetual 
peace, the contract unwisely promises, and the pope 
interfered between the 
combatants, to prevent the 
shedding of innocent 
blood. After the promises 
were formally made, .^Eth- 
elred tried to make the 
alliance even closer. He 
had children already — 
one, the gallant Eadmund 
Ironside, who might have 
saved the tottering king- 
dom if he had only held 
the authority which was 
thrown away in his father's 
hands. The name of ^Eth- 
elred's first queen has been 
lost, but she was " a 
noble lady, the daughter of 
Thored, an Ealdorman," 
and had been some time 
dead, so with great diplo- 
macy King /Ethelred the 
Unready, " by the grace 
of God Basileus of Albion, 
King and Monarch of all the British Nations, of the 
Orkneys and the surrounding Islands," as he liked to 
sign himself, came wooing to Normandy. Emma, 
the duke's sister, married him and went to England. 
iEthelred gave her a splendid wedding-present of 




QUEEN EMMA OR /ELFGIFU (FROM 
THE REGISTER OF HYDE AB- 
bEY). 



106 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

wide domains in the counties of Devon and Hants, 
part of which held the cathedral cities of Winchester 
and Exeter, the pride and defence of Southern 
Britain. Queen Emma gave the governorship of 
Exeter to her chief adviser and officer, Hugh the 
Norman, and her new subjects called her the Gem 
of Normandy, and treated her with great deference. 
She had the beauty of her race and of Rolf's de- 
scendants, and her name was changed to vElfgifu, 
because this sounded more familiar to the English 
ears. At least that is the explanation which has 
come down to us. 

Things were in a very bad way in England — the 
Anglo-Saxon rule of that time was founded upon 
fraud and violence, and the heavy misfortunes which 
assailed the English made them fear worse troubles 
later on. The wisest among them tried to warn 
their countrymen, but the warnings were apparently 
of little use. The make-believe rejoicings at Queen 
Emma's coming were quickly over with, and soon we 
hear of her flight to Normandy. Many reasons were 
given for this ominous act. Some say that yEthelred 
disgusted her by his drunkenness and lawlessness, 
and others that Hugh the Norman was treacherous, 
and betrayed his trust to the Danes, and that the 
queen was a partner in the business. There is still 
another story, that vEthelred was guilty of a shocking 
massacre, and that Emma fled in the horror and 
confusion that it made. Yet later she returned to 
England as the queen of Cnut the Dane. 

Now we must change from England to France 
altogether for a few pages, and see how steadily the 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. I07 

power of the Normans was growing, and how widely 
it made itself felt. We must see Richard the Good 
as the ally of France in the warfare waged by King 
Robert against Burgundy, which was the most im- 
portant event of Robert's reign. Old Hugh of Paris 
had carefully avoided any confusion between the 
rights of Burgundy and the rights of France when 
he established the foundation of his kingdom. He 
was a wise politician, and understood that it would 
not do to conflict with such a power as Burgundy's, 
which held the Low Countries, Spain, and Portugal 
and Italy within its influence. Since his day Bur- 
gundy had been divided, but it was still distinguished 
for its great piety and the number of its religious 
institutions. Robert's uncle was Duke of Burgundy, 
and he was a very old man ; so Robert himself had 
high hopes of becoming his successor. His chief 
rival was the representative of the Lombard kings in 
Italy — Otho William, who was son of Adalbert, a 
pirate who had wandered beyond the Alps, and Ger- 
berga, the Count of Chalons' daughter. After Adal- 
bert died Gerberga married old Duke Henry of 
Burgundy, and prevailed upon him to declare her 
son as his successor. This was illegal, but Otho 
William was much admired and beloved, and the 
great part of the Burgundians upheld his right. 

Behold, then, Richard the Good and his Norman 
soldiery marching away to the Avars ! Duke Henry 
was dead, and King Robert made haste to summon 
his ally. Thirty thousand men were mustered under 
the Norman banner, and the black raven of war went 
slowly inland. What an enterprise it was to trans- 



I08 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

port such a body of men and horses across country! 
Supplies could not be hurried from point to point as 
readily as in after-times, and the country itself must 
necessarily be almost devastated as if a swarm of 
locusts had crept through it. Normandy was over- 
flowing with a military population anxious for some- 
thing to do, with a lingering love for piracy and 
plundering. They made a swift journey, and Rich- 
ard and his men were at the gates of the city of 
Auxerre almost as soon as the venerable duke was 
in his grave. 

There was a tremendous siege ; Robert's rival 
had won the people's hearts, and in the natural 
strongholds of the mountain slopes they defended 
themselves successfully. Besides this brave opposi- 
tion of the Burgundians, the Normans were fought 
against in a more subtle way by strange phenomena 
in the heavens. A fiery dragon shot across the sky, 
and a thick fog and darkness overspread the face of 
the earth. Auxerre was shrouded in night, and the 
Norman archers could not see to shoot their arrows. 
Before long the leagued armies raised the siege of 
the border city and marched on farther into the 
country up among the bleak, rocky hills. Only one 
of the Burgundian nobles — Hugh, Count of Chalons 
and Bishop of Auxerre — was loyal to the cause of 
King Robert of France. Presently we shall see him 
again under very surprising circumstances for a 
count, not to speak of a bishop ! The country was 
thoroughly ravaged, but some time passed before it 
was finally conquered. At last there was a compro- 
mise, and Robert's son was elected duke. His 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. IO9 

descendants gave France a vast amount of trouble 
in later years, and so Burgundy revenged herself 
and Otho William's lost cause. 

Richard of Normandy had kept his army well 
drilled in this long Burgundian campaign, but before 
his reign was over he had another war to fight with 
the Count of Dreux. The lands of Dreux were 
originally in the grant made to Rolf, but later they 
were held by a line of counts, whose last representa- 
tive disappeared in Richard the Fearless' reign. We 
find the country in Richard's possession without any 
record of war, so it had probably fallen to the 
crown by right. There was a great Roman road 
through the territory like the Watling Street that ran 
from Dover to Chester through England, and this 
was well defended as the old Roman roads always 
were. Chartres was joined to Dreux by this road, 
and Chartres was not at peace with Normandy. So 
a new fort and a town sprung up on the banks of 
the river to keep Chartres in check : Tillieres, or the 
Tileries, which we might call the ancestor of the 
famous Tuileries of modern Paris. 

There were several fierce battles, and sometimes 
gaining and sometimes losing, the Normans found 
themselves presently in a hard place. We are rather 
startled to hear of the appearance of king Olaf of Nor- 
way and the king of the Swedes as Richard's allies. 
The French people had not wholly outgrown their 
hatred — or fear and distrust either — of the pirates, 
and when the news came that bands of Northmen 
were landing in Brittany there was a wild excitement. 
Richard and the Chartres chieftain were makine alto- 



IIO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

gether too much of their quarrel, and King Robe-rt, 
as preserver of the public peace, was obliged to 
interfere. After this episode everybody was more 
afraid of Normandy than ever, and Chartres was the 
gainer by the town of Dreux, with its forest and 
castle, that being the king's award. We cannot help 
wondering why Richard was persuaded to yield so 
easily, with all his Northmen eager enough to fight 
— but they disappear for the time being, and many 
stories were told of their treacherous warfare in 
Brittany; of the pitfalls covered with branches into 
which they tempted their mounted enemies on the 
battle-field of D61. All this seems to have been a 
little private diversion on their way to the Norman 
capital, where they were bidden for the business with 
Chartres. 

Then there was a fight with the bishopric of 
Chalons, which interests us chiefly because Richard's 
son and namesake first makes his appearance. Re- 
naud, the son of Otho William, who had lost the 
dukedom of Burgundy, had married a Norman dam- 
sel belonging to the royal family of Rolf. This 
Renaud was defeated and captured by the Count- 
Bishop of Chalons, of whom we know something 
already. He was loyal to King Robert of France, 
you remember, in the war with Burgundy, and now 
he treated Renaud with terrible severity, and had 
broken his vows, moreover, by getting married. 

King Robert gave the Normans permission to 
march through his dominions, and seems to have 
turned his back upon the Count-Bishop. There was 
a succession of sieges, and the army burned and de- 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. Ill 

stroyed on every side as it went through Burgundy, 
and finally made great havoc in one of the chief 
towns, called Mirmande in the chronicles, though 
no Mirmande can be heard of now in that part of the 
world, and perhaps the angry Normans determined 
to leave no trace of it for antiquarians and geograph- 
ers to discover. The Count-Bishop flees for his life 
to Chalons, and when he was assailed there, he was 
so frightened that he put an old saddle on his back 
and came out of the city gates in that fashion to 
beg for mercy. The merry historian who describes 
this scene adds that he offered Richard a ride and 
that he rolled on the ground at the young duke's 
feet in complete humiliation. One might reasona- 
bly say that the count made a donkey of himself in 
good earnest, and that his count's helmet and his 
priestly, shaven crown did not go very well together. 

The third Richard covered himself with glory in 
this campaign, however, and went back to Normandy 
triumphant, to give his old father great pleasure by 
his valor. But Richard the Good was very feeble 
now, and knew that he was going to die ; so, like 
Richard the Fearless, he went to Fecamp to spend 
his last days. 

When he had confessed to the bishops, he called 
for his faithful barons, and made his will. Richard 
was to be his successor, and his courage and honesty 
deserved it ; but the old father appears to have had 
a presentiment that all would not go well, for he 
begged the barons to be loyal to the good youth. 
Robert, the second son, fell heir to the county of 
Exmes, upon the condition that he should be faithful 



112 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

to his brother. There was another son, Mauger, a 
bad fellow, who had no friends or reputation, even 
at that early day. He was a monk, and a very low- 
minded one ; but later he appears, to our astonish- 
ment, as Archbishop of Rouen. No mention is 
made of his receiving any gift from his father ; and 
soon Richard the Good died and was buried in the 
Fecamp Abbey. In after years the bones of Richard 
the Fearless were taken from the sarcophagus out- 
side the abbey door, and father and son were laid in 
a new tomb near the high altar. 

All this early history of Normandy is told mainly 
by two men, the saga-writers of their time — William 
of Jumieges, who wrote in the lifetime of William 
the Conqueror, and Master Wace, of Caen, who was 
born on the island of Jersey, between thirty and 
forty years after the conquest of England. His 
" Roman de Rou " is most spirited and interesting, 
but, naturally, the earlier part of it is not always 
reliable. Both the chroniclers meant to tell the 
truth, but writing at a later date for the glory of 
Normandy, and in such a credulous age, we must 
forgive them their inaccuracies. 

They have a great deal more to say about Richard 
the Good than about his two sons, Richard and 
Robert. Richard was acknowledged as duke by all 
the barons after his father's death, and then went in 
state to Paris to do homage to King Robert. This 
we learn from the records of his contract of marriage 
with the king's daughter, Lady Adela, who was a 
baby in her cradle, and the copy of the settlements 
is preserved, or, at least, the account of the dowry 



DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 113 

which Richard promised. This was the seigneurie 
of the whole Cotentin country, and several other 
baronies and communes; Cherbourg and Bruot and 
Caen, and many cities and lands besides. Poor little 
Lady Adela ! and poor young husband, too, for that 
matter; for this was quite a heartless affair of state, 
and neither of them was to be any happier for all 
their great possessions. 

In the meantime Robert, the Duke's brother, was 
not in the least satisfied, and made an outcry be- 
cause, though he was lord of the beautiful county of 
Exmes, the city of Falaise was withheld from him. 
There was a man from Brittany who urged him to 
resent his wrongs, and made trouble between the 
brothers; Ermenoldus he was called, the tJieosophist ; 
and there is a great mystery about him which the 
old writers stop to wonder over. He was evidently 
a sort of magician, and those records that can be 
discovered give rise to a suspicion that he had 
strayed far eastward with some pirate fleet toward 
Asia, and had learned there to work wonders and to 
compass his ends by uncanny means. 

There was a siege of Falaise, which Robert seized 
and tried to keep by main strength ; but Richard's 
army was too much for him, and at last he sued for 
peace. The brothers went back to Rouen appar- 
ently the best of friends ; but there was a grand 
banquet in Rolf's old castle, and Richard was sud- 
denly death-struck as he sat at the head of the feast, 
and was carried to his bed, where he quickly breathed 
his last. The funeral bell began to toll while the 
banquet still went on, and the barons made them- 
selves merry in the old hall. 



"4 



THE STORY OE THE NORM A MS. 



There was great lamentation, for Richard was al- 
ready much beloved, and nobody doubted that he 
had been poisoned. So Robert came to the throne 
of Normandy with a black stain upon his character, 
and during all the rest of his life that stain was not 
overlooked nor forgotten. 

As for the baby-widow, she afterward became the 
wife of the Count of Flanders, Baldwin de Lisle, and 
she was the mother of Matilda, who was the wife of 
William the Conqueror. 







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VI. 

ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 
" What exile from himself can flee ?" — Byron. 

BEFORE we begin the story of the next Duke of 
Normandy whose two surnames, the Devil, and the 
Magnificent, give us a broad hint of his character, 
we must take a look at the progress of affairs 
in the dukedom. There is one thing to be re- 
membered in reading this history, or any other, that 
history is not merely the story of this monarch or 
that, however well he may represent the age in 
which he lived and signify its limitations and devel- 
opment. 

In Normandy one cannot help seeing that a power 
has been at work bringing a new Northern element 
into the country, and that there has been a great 
growth in every way since Rolf came with his 
vikings and besieged the city of Jumieges. Now 
the dukedom that he formed is one of the fore- 
most of its day, able to stand on equal ground 
with the royal kingdom and duchy of France, for 
Robert's homage is only the homage of equals and 
allies. Normandy is the peer of Burgundy and of 
Flanders, and every day increases in strength, in 

"5 



Il6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ambition, in scholarship and wealth. The influence 
and prestige of the dukedom are recognized every- 
where, and soon the soldiers of Normandy are going 
to take hold of English affairs and master them with 
unequalled strength. Chivalry is in the bloom of its 
youth, and the merchants of Falaise, and Rouen, 
and their sister cities, are rich and luxurious. The 
women are skilled in needlework and are famous for 
their beauty and intelligence. Everywhere there 
are new castles and churches, and the land swarms 
with inhabitants who hardly find room enough, 
while the great army hardly draws away the over- 
plus of men from the farms and workshops. There 
are whole districts like the Cotentin peninsula, that 
are nearly ready to pour out their population into 
some new country, like bees when they swarm in 
early summer, and neither the fashion of going on 
pilgrimage to the holy shrines, nor the spirit that 
leads to any warlike adventure, are equal to the need 
for a new conquest of territory, and a general 
emigration. 

There are higher standards everywhere in law and 
morals and customs of home-life. The nobles are 
very proud and keep up a certain amount of state in 
their high stone castles. In the Cotentin alone the 
ruins of more than a hundred of these can yet be 
seen, and all over Normandy and Brittany are relics of 
that busy, prosperous time. The whole territory is 
like a young man who has reached his majority, and 
who feels a strength and health and ambition that 
make him restless, and make him believe himself 
capable of great things. 




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Il8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

From followers of the black ravens and worshippers 
of the god Thor, the Normans have become Chris- 
tians and devout followers of the Church of Rome. 
They go on pilgrimage to distant shrines and build 
churches that the world may well wonder at to-day 
and try to copy. They have great houses for monks 
and nuns, and crowds of priests and scholars, and it 
would not be easy to find worshippers of the old 
faith unless among old people and in secluded neigh- 
borhoods. There is little left of the old Northman's 
fashions of life but his spirit is as vigorous as ever, 
and his courage, and recklessness, his love of a fight 
and hatred of cowardice, his beauty and shapeliness, 
are sent down from generation to generation, a surer 
inheritance than lands or money. We grow eager, 
ourselves, to see what will come of this leaven of 
daring and pride of strength. There is no such 
thing for Normandy now, as tranquillity. 

Duke Robert's story is chiefly interesting to us 
because he was the father of William the Conqueror, 
and in most of the accounts of that time it is hard 
to find any thing except various versions of his 
course toward his more famous son. But in reality 
he was a very gifted and powerful man, and strange 
to say, the conquest of England was only the carry- 
ing out of a plan that was made by Duke Robert 
himself. 

The two young sons of Emma and yEthelred 
were still in Normandy, and the Duke thought it was 
a great pity that they were neglected and apparently 
forgotten by their countrymen. He undertook to 
be their champion, and boldly demanded that King 



ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. II9 

Cnut of England should consider their rights. He 
sent an embassy to England and bade Cnut "give 
them their own," which probably meant the English 
crown. Cnut disdained the message, as might have 
been expected, and Duke Robert armed his men 
and fitted out a fleet, and all set sail for England to 
force the Dane to recognize the young princes. It 
sounds very well that the Normans should have been 
so eager to serve the Duke's cousins, but no doubt 
they were talking together already about the possi- 
bility of extending their dominions across the Chan- 
nel. They were disappointed now, however, for 
they were beaten back and out of their course by 
very bad weather, and had to put in at the island of 
Jersey. From there they took a short excursion to 
Brittany, because Robert and his cousin Alan were 
not on good terms, Alan having refused to do hom- 
age to Normandy. There was a famous season of 
harrying and burning along the Breton coast, which 
may have reconciled the adventurers to their disap- 
pointment, but at any rate the conquest of England 
was put off for forty years. One wonders how 
Cnut's Queen Emma felt about the claims of her 
sons. It was a strange position for her to be put 
into. A Norman woman herself who had virtually 
forsaken her children, she could hardly blame her 
brother for his efforts to restore them to their Eng- 
lish belongings, and yet she was bound to her new 
English interests, and must have different standards 
as Danish Cnut's wife from those of Saxon y£thel- 
red's. There is an announcement in one of the Nor- 
man chronicles that Cnut sent a message to the 



120 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

effect that he would give the princes their rights 
at his death. This must have been for the sake of 
peace, but it is not very likely that any such thing 
ever happened. 

A new acquaintance between the countries must 
have grown out of the banishment of some of the 
English nobles in the early part of Cnut's reign, and 
they no doubt strengthened the interest of the Nor- 
mans, and made their desire to possess England 
greater than ever before. We shall be conscious of it 
more and more until the time of the Conquest comes. 
The Normans plotted and planned again and again, 
and their intrigues continually grew more dangerous 
to England. It is plain to see that they were al- 
ways watching for a chance to try their strength, 
and were not unwilling to provoke a quarrel. Ead- 
ward, one of the English princes, was ready to claim 
his rights, but he had learned to be very fond of 
Normandy, and his half-heartedness served his 
adopted country well when he came at last to the 
English throne. For the present we lose sight of 
him, but not of Alfred his brother, who ventured to 
England on an expedition which cost him his life, 
but that failure made the Norman desire for revenge 
burn hotter and deeper than before, though the 
ashes of disappointment covered it for a time. 

Duke Robert's reign began with a grand flourish, 
as if he wished to bribe his subjects into forgetful- 
ness of his brother Richard's death. There were 
splendid feasts and presents of armor and fine clothes 
for his retainers, and he won his name of the Mag- 
nificent in the very face of those who whispered 



ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 121 

that he was a murderer. He was very generous, and 
seems to have given presents for the pleasure it gave 
himself rather than from any underhand motives of 
gaining popularity. We are gravely told that some 
of his beneficiaries died of joy, which strikes one as 
being somewhat exaggerated. 

The old castle of Rolf at Rouen was forsaken for 
the castle of Falaise. No doubt there were unpleas- 
ant associations with Rolf's hall, where poor Richard 
had been seized with his mysterious mortal illness. 
Falaise, with its hunting-grounds and pleasant woods 
and waters and its fine situation, was Robert's favorite 
home forever after. There he brought his wife Es- 
trith, Cnut's sister, who first had been the wife of 
Ulf the Danish king, and there he lived in a free 
companionship with his nobles and with great con- 
descension towards his inferiors, with whom he was 
often associated in most familiar terms. 

There were chances enough to show his valor. 
Once Baldwin the elder, of Flanders, was attacked by 
his son Baldwin de Lisle, who had put himself at the 
head of an army, and the poor Count was forced to 
flee to Falaise for shelter and safety. Any excuse 
for going to war seems to have been accepted in 
Normandy ; the country was brimming over with 
people. There was almost more population than the 
land could support, and Robert led his men to Flan- 
ders with great alacrity, and settled the mutiny so 
entirely that there was no more trouble. Flanders 
was brought to a proper state of submission, as if in 
revenge for old scores. At last the noblemen who 
had upheld the insurrection all deserted the leader of 



122 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

it, and both they and young Baldwin besought Rob- 
ert to make the terms of peace. After this, Flan- 
ders and Normandy were very friendly together, 
and before long they formed a most significant alli- 
ance of the royal houses. 

In Robert's strolls about Falaise, perhaps in dis- 
guise, like another Haroun al Raschid, his beauty- 
loving eyes caught sight one day of a young girl 
who was standing bare-footed in a shallow brook, 
washing linen, and making herself merry with a 
group of busy young companions. This was Arlette, 
or Herleva, according as one gives her the Saxon or 
the Norman name ; her father was a brewer and tan- 
ner, who had been attracted to Falaise from Ger- 
many by the reputation of its leather manufactures 
and good markets. The pastures and hunting- 
grounds made skins very cheap and abundant, but 
the trade of skinning of beasts was considered a most 
degrading one, and those who pursued it in ancient 
times were thought less of than those who followed 
almost any other occupation. If we were not sure of 
this, we might suspect the Norman nobles of casting 
undue shame and reproach upon this man Fulbert. 

Duke Robert seems to have quite forgotten his 
lawful wife in his new love-making with Herleva. 
Even the tanner himself objected to the duke's no- 
tice of his daughter, but who could withstand the 
wishes of so great a man ? Not Fulbert, who ac- 
cepted the inevitable with a good grace, for later in 
the story he shows himself a faithful retainer and 
household official of his lord and master. Robert 
never seems to have recovered from his first devo- 



ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 1 23 

tion to the pretty creature who stood with slender, 
white feet in the brook, and turned so laughing a 
face toward him. They showed not long ago the 
very castle-window in Falaise from which he caught 
his first sight of the woman who was to rule his life. 
He did not marry her, though Estrith was sent 
away; but they had a son, who was named William, 
who himself added the titles of the Great and The 
Conqueror, but who never escaped hearing to his 
life's end the shame and ignominy of his birth. 
We cannot doubt that it was as mean an act then as 
now to taunt a man with the disgrace he could not 
help ; but of all the great men who were of illegiti- 
mate birth whom we know in the pages of history, 
this famous William is oftenest openly shamed 
by his title of the Bastard. He won much ap- 
plause ; he was the great man of his time, but from 
pique, or jealousy, or prejudice, perhaps from some 
faults that he might have helped, he was forever ac- 
cused of the shame that was not his. The Bastard, 
— the Tanner's Grandson ; he was never allowed to 
forget, through any heroism or success in war, or fur- 
thering of Norman fortunes, that these titles be- 
longed to him. 

The pride of the Norman nobles was dreadfully 
assailed by Duke Robert's shameful alliance with 
Herleva. All his relations, who had more or less 
right to the ducal crown, were enraged beyond con- 
trol. Estrith had no children, and this beggarly lit- 
tle fellow who was growing plump and rosy in the tan- 
ner's house, was arch-enemy of all the proud lords and 
gentlemen. There was plenty of scandal and mockery 



124 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

in Falaise, and the news of Robert's base behavior 
was flying from village to village through Nor- 
mandy and France. The common people of Falaise 
laughed in the faces of the barons and courtiers as 
they passed in the street, and one day an old 
burgher and neighbor of the tanner asked William 
de Talvas, the head of one of the most famous Nor- 
man families, to go in with him to see the Duke's 
son. The Lord of Alencon was very angry when he 
looked at the innocent baby-face. He saw, by some 
strange foreboding and prevision, the troubles that 
would fall upon his own head because of this vigor- 
ous young life, and, as he cursed the unconscious 
child again and again, his words only echoed the fear 
that was creeping through Normandy. 

Robert was very bold in his defiance of public 
opinion, and before long the old tanner sheds his 
blouse like the cocoon of a caterpillar, and blooms 
out resplendent in the gay trappings of court cham- 
berlain. Herleva was given the place as duchess 
which did not legally belong to her, and this hurt the 
pride of the ladies and gentlemen of the court and 
the country in a way that all Robert's munificence 
and generosity could not repay or cure. The age 
was licentious enough, but public opinion demanded 
a proper conformity to law and etiquette. All the 
aristocratic house of Rolf's descendants, the valor 
and scholarship and churchmanship of Normandy, 
were insulted at once. The trouble fermented more 
and more, until the Duke's uncle, the Archbishop of 
Rouen, called his nephew to account for such open 
sin and disgrace of his kindred, and finally ex- 



ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 12$ 

communicated him and put all Normandy under a 
ban. 

Somehow this outbreak was quieted down, and 
just then Robert was called upon, not only to settle 
the quarrel in Flanders above mentioned, but to up- 
hold the rights of the French king. For his success 
in this enterprise he was granted the district of the 
Vexin, which lay between Normandy and France, 
and so the Norman duchy extended its borders to 
the very walls of Paris. Soon other questions of 
pressing importance rose up to divert public com- 
ment ; it was no time to provoke the Duke's anger, 
and there was little notice taken of Herleva's aggra- 
vating presence in the ducal castle, or the untoward 
growth and flourishing of her son. 

At length Duke Robert announced his intention 
of going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He wished 
to show his piety and to gain as much credit as pos- 
sible, so the long journey was to be made on foot. 
The Norman barons begged him not to think of 
such a thing, for in the excited condition of French 
and Norman affairs nothing could be more impru- 
dent than to leave the dukedom masterless. " By my 
faith ! " Robert answered stoutly, " I do not mean to 
leave you without a lord. Here is my young son, 
who will grow and be a gallant man, by God's help ; 
I command you to take him for your lord, for I make 
him my heir and give him my whole duchy of 
Normandy." 

There was a stormy scene in the council, and how- 
ever we may scorn Robert's foolish, selfish present- 
giving and his vulgarity, we cannot help pitying him 



126 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

as he pleads with the knights and bishops for their 
recognition of his innocent boy. We pity the Duke's 
shame, while his natural feeling toward the child 
wars with his disgust. With all his eloquence, with 
all his authority, he entreats the scornful listeners 
until they yield. They have warned him against the 
danger of the time, and of what he must expect, not 
only if he goes on pilgrimage and leaves the duke- 
dom to its undefended fate, but also if he further 
provokes those who are already his enemies, and who 
resent the presence of his illegitimate child. But he 
dares to put the base-born lad over the dukedom of 
Normandy as his own successor. He even goes to 
the king of France and persuades him to receive 
the unworthy namesake of Longsword as vassal and 
next duke, and to Alan of Brittany, who consents to 
be guardian. Then at last the unwilling barons do 
homage to the little lord — a bitter condescension 
and service it must have been ! 

After all the ceremonies were finished, Robert lost 
no time in starting on his pilgrimage. He sought 
the shrine of Jerusalem, many a weary mile away, 
over mountain and fen, past dangers of every sort. 
Nothing could be more characteristic than his per- 
formance of his penance or his pleasure journey — 
whichever he called it — for although he went on 
foot, he spent enormous sums in showering alms 
upon the people who came out to greet him. Her- 
alds rode before him, and prepared his lodging and 
reception, and the great procession of horses and 
grooms and beasts of burden grew longer and longer 
as he went on his way. Once they blocked up the 



ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 



127 



gateway of a town, and the keeper fell upon the 
pilgrim Duke, ignorantly, and gave him a good 
thrashing to make him hurry on with his idle crowd. 
Robert piously held back those of his followers who 




ROBERT, DUKE OK NORMANDY, CARRIED IN A LITTER TO JERUSALEM. 
(FROM AN OLD ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.) 

would have beaten the warder in return, and said 
that it was well for him to show himself a pattern of 
humility and patience, and such suffering was meant 
for the good of one's soul. 



128 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

The Duke did a great many foolish things ; for 
one, he had his horses shod with silver shoes, held 
on by only one nail, and gave orders that none of 
his servants should pick up the shoes when they 
were cast, but let them lie in the road. 

At last the pilgrims reached Constantinople, and 
Robert made a great display of his wealth, not to 
speak of his insolent bad manners. The emperor, 
Michael, treated his rude guests with true Eastern 
courtesy, and behaved himself much more honorably 
than those who despised him and called him names. 
He even paid all the expenses of the Norman pro- 
cession, but, no doubt, he was anxious not to give 
any excuse for displeasure or disturbance between 
the Northerners and his own citizens. When the 
visit was over, and Robert moved on toward Jerusa- 
lem, his already feeble health, broken by his bad 
life, grew more and more alarming, and at last he 
could not take even a very short journey on foot, and 
was carried in a litter by negroes. The Crusades 
were filling the roads with pilgrims and soldiers, and 
travellers of every sort. One day they met a Coten- 
tinman, an old acquaintance of Robert's. The Duke 
said with grim merriment that he was borne like a 
corpse on a bier. " My lord," asked the Crusader, 
who seems to have been sincerely shocked and dole- 
ful at the sight of the Duke's suffering ; " my lord, 
what shall I say for you when I reach home ? " " That 
you saw me carried toward Paradise by four devils," 
said the Duke, readier at any time to joke about life 
than to face it seriously and to do his duty. He kept 
up the pretence of travelling unknown and in dis- 



ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 120. 

guise, like a humbler pilgrim, but his lavishness 
alone betrayed the secret he would really have been 
sorry to keep. Outside the gates of Jerusalem there 
was always a great crowd of people who were not 
able to pay the entrance-fee demanded of every pil- 
grim ; but Robert paid for himself and all the rest 
before he went in at the gate. The long journey was 
almost ended, for on the way home, at the city of 
Nicaea, the Duke was poisoned, and died, and was 
buried there in the cathedral with great solemnity 
and lamentation. He had collected a heap of relics 
of the saints, and these were brought safely home to 
Normandy by Tostin, his chamberlain, who seems to 
have served him faithfully all the way. 




VII. 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 



" And therefore must make room 
Where greater spirits come." — Marvell. 

THERE is a famous old story about Hasting, the 
viking captain. Once he went adventuring along the 
shores of the Mediterranean, and when he came in 
sight of one of the Tuscan cities, he mistook it for 
Rome. Evidently he had enough learning to furnish 
him with generous ideas about the wealth of the 
Roman churches, but he had brought only a handful 
of men, and the city looked large and strong from 
his narrow ship. There was no use to think of such 
a thing as laying siege to the town ; such a measure 
would do hardly more than tease and provoke it : so 
he planned a sharp stroke at its very heart. 

Presently word was carried from the harbor side, by 
a long-faced and tearful sailor, to the pious priests of 
the chief church, that Hasting, a Northman, lay sick 
unto death aboard his ship, and was desirous to re- 
pent him of his sins and be baptized. This was 
promising better things of the vikings, and the good 
bishop visited Hasting readily, and ministered eager- 
ly to his soul's distress. Next day word came that 
the robber was dead, and his men brought him early 

130 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 131 

to the church in his coffin, following him in a de- 
fenceless, miserable group. They gathered about 
the coffin, and the service began ; the priests stood 
in order to chant and pray, their faces bowed low or 
lifted heavenward. Suddenly up goes the coffin-lid, 
out jumps Hasting, and his men clutch at the shi- 
ning knives hidden under their cloaks. They strip the 
jewelled vestments from the priests' backs ; they 
shut the church doors and murder the poor men like 
sheep ; they climb the high altar, and rob it of its 
decorations and sacred cups and candlesticks, and 
load themselves with wealth. The city has hardly 
time to see them dash by to the harbor side, to hear 
the news and give them angry chase, before the evil 
ships are standing out to sea again, and the pirates 
laugh and shout as they tug at the flashing oars. 
No more such crafty converts ! the people cry, and 
lift their dead and dying priests sorrowfully from the 
blood-stained floor. This was the fashion of Italy's 
early acquaintance with the Northmen, whose grand- 
children were to conquer wide dominions in Apulia, 
in Sicily, and all that pleasant country between the 
inland seas of Italy and Greece. 

It must have seemed almost as bad to the Romans 
to suffer invasion of this sort as it would to us to 
have a horde of furious Esquimaux come down to 
attack our coasts. We only need to remember the 
luxury of the Italian cities, to recall the great names 
of the day in literature and art, in order to contrast 
the civilization and appearance of the invader and 
the invaded. Yet war was a constant presence then, 
and every nation had its bitter enemies born of race 



132 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

prejudice and the resentment of conquest. To be a 
great soldier was to be great indeed, and by the time 
of the third of the Norman dukes the relation of 
the Northmen and Italians was much changed. 

Yet there was not such a long time between the 
time of Hasting the pirate, and that of Tancred 
de Hauteville and Robert Guiscard. Normandy had 
taken her place as one of the formidable, respectable 
European powers. The most powerful of the fiefs 
of France, she was an enemy to be feared and hon- 
ored, not despised. She was loyal to the See of 
Rome ; very pious and charitable toward all religious 
establishments ; no part of Southern Europe had 
been more diligent in building churches,- in going on 
pilgrimage, in maintaining the honor of God and her 
own honor. Her knights prayed before they fought, 
and they were praised already in chronicle and song. 
The troubadours sung their noble deeds from hall to 
hall. The world looked on to see their bravery and 
valor, and when they grew restless and went a-roving 
and showed an increasing desire to extend their pos- 
sessions and make themselves lords of new acres, the 
rest of the world looked on with envy and approval. 
Unless the Normans happened to come their way ; 
that of course was quite a different thing. 

We cannot help thinking that the readiness of the 
Englishman of to-day to form colonies and to adapt 
himself to every sort of climate and condition of for- 
eign life, was anticipated and foreboded in those 
Norman settlements along the shores of the Medi- 
terranean sea. Perhaps we should say again that 
the Northmen of a much earlier date were the true 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 133 

ancestors of all English colonists with their roving 
spirit and love of adventure, but the Normandy of 
the early part of the eleventh century was a type of 
the England of to-day. Its power was consolidated 
and the territory became too narrow for so much 
energy to be pent up in. The population increased 
enormously, and the familiar love of conquest and 
of seeking new fortunes was waked again. The bees 
send out new swarms when summer comes, and, like 
the bees, both Normans and Englishmen must have 
a leader and centralization of the general spirit, else 
there is scattering and waste of the common force. 

We might go on with this homely illustration of 
the bees to explain the way in which smaller or 
larger groups of pilgrims, and adventurers of a less 
pious inclination, had wandered southward and east- 
ward, toward the holy shrines of Jerusalem, or the 
rich harvest of Oriental wealth and luxury. Not 
much result came from these enterprises, though as 
early as 1026, we find the Duke of Naples allowing a 
company of Norman wanderers to settle at Aversa, 
and even helping them to build and fortify the town, 
and to hold it as a kind of out-post garrison against 
his enemies in Capua. They were understood to be 
ready for all sorts of enterprises, and the bitter flow- 
ers of strategy and revolt appeared to yield the 
sweetest honey that any country-side could offer. 
They loved a fight, and so they were often called in 
by the different Italian princes and proved them- 
selves most formidable and trustworthy allies in 
case of sudden troubles. This is what an historian of 
that time says about them : 



134 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

" The Normans are a cunning and revengeful peo- 
ple ; eloquence and dissimulation appear to be their 
hereditary qualities. They can stoop to flatter; but 
unless they are curbed by the restraint of law they 
indulge the licentiousness of nature and passion, and 
in their eager search for wealth and dominion they 
despise whatever they possess and hope whatever 
they desire. Arms and horses, the luxury of dress, 
the exercises of hawking and hunting, are the delight 
of the Normans ; but on pressing occasions they can 
endure with incredible patience the inclemency of 
every climate, and the toil and abstinence of a mili- 
tary life." 

How we are reminded of the old vikings in this 
striking description ! and how we see certain changes 
that have overlaid the original Norse and Danish 
nature. There are French traits now, like a not very 
thick veneering of more delicate and polished wood 
upon the sturdy oak. 

Aversa was quickly made of great importance to 
that part of the world. The Norman colony did 
good missionary work, and Robert Guiscard, the 
chief Norman adventurer and founder of the king- 
dom of Naples, was leader and inspirer of great 
enterprises. In following the history of the time 
through many volumes, it is very disappointing to 
find such slight reference to this most interesting 
episode in the development of Norman civilization. 

In one of the green valleys of the Cotentin, near 
a small stream that finds its way into the river Dove, 
there are still standing the crumbling walls of an 
ancient Norman castle. The neighboring fields still 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 35 

keep their old names of the Park, the Forest, and 
the Dove-Cot ; and in this way, if in no other, the 
remembrance is preserved of an old feudal manor- 
house. Not long ago some huge oaks were clustered 
in groups about the estate, and there was a little 
church of very early date standing in the shade of a 
great cedar tree. Its roof had a warlike-looking 
rampart, and a shapely tower with double crosses 
lifted itself high against the sky. 

In the early years of the eleventh century there 
lived in this quiet place an old Norman gentleman 
who was one of Duke Richard the Good's best 
soldiers. He had wandered far and wide in search 
of gain and glory. The Duke had given him com- 
mand of ten armed men who formed his body-guard, 
and after a long service at court this elder Tancred 
returned to his tranquil ancestral home to spend the 
rest of his days. He was poor, and he had a very 
large family. His first wife, Muriel, had left several 
children, and their good step-mother treated them all 
with the same tenderness and wise helpfulness that 
she had shown to her own flock. The young de 
Hautevilles had received such education as gentle- 
men gave their children in those days, and, above 
every thing else, were expert in the use of arms and 
of horses and the pleasures of the chase. They 
trained their falcons, and grew up brave and strong. 
There were twelve sons, all trained to arms. Three 
of the elder family were named William, Drogo, and 
Humphrey, and the sixth, their half-brother, was 
Robert, who early won for himself the surname of 
Guiscard, or the Wise. Tall fellows they were, these 



136 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

sons of the Chevalier de Hauteville. One of the old 
French historians tells us that they had an air of 
dignity, and even in their youth great things were 
expected of them ; it was easy to prophesy their 
brilliant future. 

While they were still hardly more than boys, 
Serlon, their eldest brother, who had already gone 
to court, killed one of Duke Robert's gentlemen who 
had offered him some insult, and was banished to 
England where he spent some time in the dreariness 
of exile, longing more and more to get back to 
Normandy. This brought great sorrow to the 
household in the Cotentin valley ; it was most likely 
that a great deal depended upon Serlon's success, and 
the eager boys at home were looking to him for their 
own advancement. However, the disappointment 
was not very long-lived, for at the time when Henry 
of France was likely to lose his throne through the 
intrigues of his brother and his mother, Constance 
of Provence, and came to the Duke of Normandy for 
aid, Serlon came home again without being asked, 
and fought like a tiger at the siege of Tillieres. You 
remember that this siege lasted a long time, and it 
gives us a good idea of the warfare of that age to 
discover that every day there came out of the city 
gate an awesome knight who challenged the con- 
queror to single combat. The son of brave old 
Tancred was not frightened by even the sight of 
those unlucky warriors who lay dead under the 
challenger's blows, and one morning Serlon went to 
the gate at daybreak and called the knight out to 
fight with him. 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 37 

The terrible enemy did not wait ; he presently 
appeared in glistening armor and mounted upon a 
fiery steed. He asked Serlon who he was, and as if 
he knew by instinct that he had met his match at 
last, counselled the champion of Normandy to run 
away, and not try to fight with him. 

Nobody had recognized the banished man, who 
carefully kept the visor of his helmet down over his 
face, and when the fight was over and the enemy's 
head was off and borne at the head of his victorious 
lance, he marched silently along the ranks of the 
Norman knights, who were filled with pride and 
glory, but for all their cheering he was still close- 
helmeted. Duke Robert heard the news of this 
famous deed, and determined that such a valiant 
knight must not hide himself or escape, so he sent 
a messenger to command the stranger to make him- 
self known. When he found that Serlon himself 
had been the hero, he ran to meet him, and embraced 
him and held him to his heart, and still more, gave 
back to him all the lands and treasures which had 
come to him by his marriage and which had been 
confiscated when he was sent into exile. All these 
glories of their elder brother made the other sons 
more eager now than ever to show their prowess, 
but there was slight chance in Normandy, for the 
war lasted but little longer. But when Robert had 
put the French king on his throne again, he deter- 
mined, as we have seen already, to go on a pilgrim- 
age. There was not much prospect of winning 
great fame at home while young William the heir 
was so unpopular and Alan of Brittany was his care- 



I3 8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ful guardian. The de Hautevilles were impatient at 
the prospect of years of petty squabbles and treach- 
erous intrigues ; they longed for a broader field for 
their energies. There was no such thing as staying 
at home and training the falcons ; their hungry young 
brothers and sisters were pushing their way already, 
and the ancient patrimony was growing less and less. 
So William and Drogo and Humphrey went away 
to seek their fortunes like fairy-book princes, and 
hearing vague rumors of Rainulf's invitation to his 
countrymen, and of his being made count of the 
new possessions in Aversa, they turned their faces 
towards Italy. We cannot help lingering a moment 
to fancy them as they ride away from the door of 
their old home — the three brave young men together. 
The old father looks after them wistfully, but his 
eyes are afire, and he lives his own youth over again 
and wishes with all his heart that he were going too. 
The little sisters cry, and the younger brothers long 
for the day when their turn will come to go adven- 
turing. The tame falcons flutter and peck at their 
hoods, there where they stand on their perches with 
fettered claws ; the grass runs in long waves on the 
green hill-sides and dazzles the eyes that look after 
the sons as they ride towards the south ; and the 
mother gives a little cry and goes back into the dark 
hall and weeps there until she climbs the turret 
stairs to see if she cannot catch one more look at 
the straight backs and proud heads of the young 
knights, or even one little glint of their horses' 
trappings as they ride away among the orchard 
leaves. 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 39 

They would have to fight their way as best they 
could, and when they reached Apulia at last they 
still found work enough for their swords. South 
of Rome were the territories of the independent 
counts of Naples and the republic of Amalfi. South 
of these the Greek possessions of Lombardy, which 
had its own governor and was the last remnant of 
the Eastern empire. 

The beautiful island of Sicily had been in the 
hands of the Moslems and belonged to the African 
kingdom of Tunis. In 1038 the governor of Lom- 
bardy believed he saw the chance that he had long 
been waiting for, to add Sicily to his own dominions. 
The Arabs were fighting among themselves and were 
split up already into several weak and irreconcilable 
factions, and he begged the Normans to go and help 
his own army to conquer them. After a while Sicily 
was conquered, but the Normans were not given 
their share of the glory of the victories; on the con- 
trary, the Lombard governor was too avaricious and 
ungrateful for his own good, and there was a grand 
quarrel when the spoils were divided. Two years 
afterwards the indignant Normans came marching 
back to attack Apulia, and defeated the Greeks at 
Cannae so thoroughly that they were only left in 
possession of a few towns. 

This was in 1043, an d we cannot help feeling a 
great satisfaction at finding William de Hauteville 
president of the new republic of Apulia. Had not 
the three brothers shown their bravery and ability? 
Perhaps they had only remembered their old father's 
wise talk, and profited by his advice, and warning 



140 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

lest they should spend their strength by being great 
in little things instead of aiming at nobler pieces of 
work. All the high hopes which filled their hearts 
as they rode away from Normandy must have come 
true. They were already the leaders in Apulia, and 
had been foremost in the organization of an aristo- 
cratic republic. Twelve counts were elected by 
popular suffrage, and lived at their capital of Melfi, 
and settled their affairs in military council. And 
William, as I have said, was president. 

Presently from East and West envious eyes began 
to look at this powerful young state. Europe knew 
well enough what had come from giving these Nor- 
mans foothold in Gaul not so very long ago, and the 
Pope and the emperors of the West and East formed 
a league to chase the builders of this new Normandy 
out of their settlements. The two emperors, how- 
ever, were obliged to hurry back to defend their own 
strongholds, and Leo the Tenth was left to fight his 
neighbors alone, with the aid of some German sol- 
diers, a mere handful, whom Henry the Third had left. 
The Normans proposed fair terms to his Holiness, 
but he ventured to fight the battle of Civitella, and 
was overpowered and beaten, and taken prisoner 
himself. Then the shrewd Normans said how grieved 
they had been to fight against the Father of the 
Church, and implored him, captive as he was, to 
receive Apulia as a fief of the Holy See. This 
seems very puzzling, until we stop to think that the 
Normans would gain an established position among 
the Italian powers, and this amounted to an alliance 
with the power of the papal interests. 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. I4I 

William de Hauteville died, and the office of presi- 
dent, or first count, passed to his next brother, 
Drogo, and after him to Humphrey. One day, while 
Drogo was count, a troop of pilgrims appeared in 
Amalfi, with their wallets and staves. This was no 
uncommon sight, but at the head of the dusty com- 
pany marched a young man somewhere near twenty- 
five years of age, and of remarkable beauty. The 
high spirit, the proud nobility in his face, the tone 
of his voice even, showed him to be an uncommon 
man ; his fresh color and the thickness of his blond 
hair gave nobody a chance to think that he had 
come from any of the Southern countries. Suddenly 
Drogo recognized one of his step-brothers, whom he 
had left at home a slender boy — this was Robert, 
already called Guiscard. He had gathered a re- 
spectable little troop of followers — five knights and 
thirty men-at-arms made his escort, — and they had 
been forced to put on some sort of disguise for their 
journey, because the court of Rome, jealous of the 
growing power of the Normans in Italy, did every 
thing to hinder their project, and refused permission 
to cross their territories to those who were coming 
from the North to join the new colony. Humbert de 
Hauteville was with Robert — indeed the whole 
family, except Serlon, went to Italy sooner or later 
after the old knight Tancred died ; even the mother 
and sisters. 

Robert arrived in time for the battle of Civitella, 
and distinguished himself amazingly. Indeed he 
was the inspirer and leader of the Norman successes 
in the South, and to him rather than to either of his 



I4 2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

elder brothers belongs the glory of the new Nor- 
mandy. 

His frank, pleasant manners won friends and fol- 
lowers without number, who loved him dearly, and 
rallied to his standard. He was well furnished with 
that wiliness and diplomacy which were needed to 
cope with Southern enemies, and his wild ambition 
led him on and on without much check from feelings 
of pity, or even justice. Like many other Normans, 
he was cruel, and his acts were those of a man who 
sees his goal ahead, and marches straight toward it. 
While William the Conqueror was getting ready to 
wear the crown of England, Robert Guiscard was 
laying his plans for the kingdom of the two Sicilies. 

After a while Drogo was assassinated, and then 
Humphrey was put in his place, but he and Robert 
were always on bad terms with each other apparently. 
Robert's faults were the faults of his time, and yet 
his restlessness and ambition seem to have given his 
brother great disquietude ; perhaps Humphrey feared 
him as a rival, but at any rate he seems to have kept 
him almost a prisoner of state. The Guiscard gained 
the votes of the people before long, when the count 
died and left only some young children, and in 1054 
he was made Count of Apulia and general of the 
republic. We need not be surprised to find his 
title much lengthened a little later ; he demanded 
the ducal title itself from Pope Nicholas, and styles 
himself " by the grace of God and St. Peter, Duke 
of Apulia, Calabria, and hereafter of Sicily." " The 
medical and philosophical schools of Salerno, long 
renowned in Italy, added lustre to his kingdom, and 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 143 

the trade of Amalfi, the earliest of the Italian com- 
mercial cities, extending to Africa, Arabia, India, 
with affiliated colonies in Constantinople, Antioch, 
Jerusalem, and Alexandria, enriched his ample do- 
main. Excelling in the art of navigation, Amalfi is 
said to have discovered the compass. Under her 
Norman dukes, she held the position of the queen 
of Italian commerce, until the rise of the more famous 
cities of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice.* 

Roger de Hauteville, the youngest brother of all, 
who was much like Robert in every way, was the 
conqueror of Sicily, and the expedition was piously 
called a crusade against the unbelievers. It was 
thirty years before the rich island was added to the 
jurisdiction of Rome, from which the Mussulmans 
had taken it. Roger was given the title of count, 
but his dominion was on a feudal basis instead of 
being a republic. This success induced Robert to 
make a campaign against the Eastern empire, and 
the invasions continued as long as he lived. They 
were not very successful in themselves, but they 
were influential in bringing about great changes. 
The first crusade was an outcome of these plans of 
Robert's, and all the altered relations of the East 
and West for years afterward. 

We must go far ahead of the slow pace of our story 
of the Normans in Normandy and England to give this 
brief sketch of the Southern dukedoms. The story of 
the de Hautevilles is only another example of Nor- 
man daring and enterprise. The spirit of adventure, of 
conquest, of government, of chivalry, and personal 

* A. H. Johnson : "The Normans in Europe." 



144 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ambition shines in every page of it, and as time goes 
on we watch with joy a partial fading out of the 
worse characteristics of cruelty and avarice and 
trickery, of vanity and jealous revenge. " Progress 
in good government," says Mr. Green in his preface to 
A Short History of England, " is the result of social 
developments." The more we all think about that, 
the better for us and for our country. No doubt the 
traditions of Hasting the Northman and his barba- 
rous piracies had hardly died out before the later 
Normans came, first in scattered groups, and then in 
legions, to settle in Italy. One cannot help feeling 
that they did much to make amends for the bad 
deeds of their ancestors. The south of Italy and 
the Sicilian kingdom of Roger were under a wiser 
and more tolerant rule than any government of their 
day, and Greeks, Normans, and Italians lived to- 
gether in harmony and peace that was elsewhere 
unknown. The people were industrious, and all sorts 
of trades flourished, especially the silk manufacture. 
Perhaps the soft air and easy, luxurious fashion of life 
quieted theNorman restlessness alittle. Who can tell? 
Yet we get a hint of a better explanation of the 
prosperity of the two Sicilies in this passage from an 
old chronicle about King Roger : " He was a lover 
of justice and most severe avenger of crime. He 
abhorred lying ; did every thing by rule, and never 
promised what he did not mean to perform. He 
never persecuted his private enemies, and in war 
endeavored on all occasions to gain his point without 
shedding of blood. Justice and peace were univer- 
sally observed throughout his dominions." 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 145 

A more detailed account of the reigns of the De 
Hautevilles will be found in the " Story of Sicily," but 
before this brief review of their conquests is ended, it 
is only fair to notice the existing monuments of 
Norman rule. The remains of Norman architecture, 
dating back to their time, may still be seen in 
Palermo and other cities, and give them a romantic 
interest. There are ruins of monasteries and con- 
vents almosts without number, and many churches 
still exist, though sometimes more or less defaced by 
modern additions and ignorant restoration. The 
Normans raised the standard of Western forms of 
architecture here as they did elsewhere, and their 
simpler buildings make an interesting contrast with 
Eastern types left by the Saracens. Outside the 
large cities almost every little town has at least some 
fragments of Norman masonry, and in Aderno — to 
note only one instance of the sort — there is a fine 
Norman castle in excellent preservation, which is 
used as a prison now. At Troina, a dreary moun- 
tain fortress, there is a belfry and part of the wall of 
a cathedral that Roger I. built in 1078. It was in 
Troina that he and his wife bravely established their 
court fifteen years earlier, and withstood a four 
months' siege from the Saracens. Galfridus, an old 
chronicler, tells sadly that the young rulers only had 
one cloak between them, and grew very hungry and 
miserable ; but Eremburga, the wife, was uncom- 
plaining and patient. At last the count was so dis- 
tressed by the sight of her pallor and evident 
suffering, that he rallied his men and made a des- 
perate charge upon his foes, and was happily victo- 



I46 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

rious. Galfridus says of that day : " The single hand 
of Roger, with God's help, did such execution that 
the corpses of the enemy lay around him on every 
side like the branches of trees in a thick forest when 
strewn by a tempest." Once afterward, when Roger 
was away fighting in Calabria, Eremburga was form- 
ally left in command, and used to make the round 
with the sentinels on the walls every night. 

We must look in Palermo for the noblest monu- 
ments of Norman days, and beside the churches and 
palaces, for the tombs of the kings and archbishops in 
San Rosario Cathedral. There lies Roger himself, 
" mighty Duke and first King of Sicily." Mr. Symonds 
says * : " Very sombre and stately are these porphyry 
resting-places of princes born in the purple, assembled 
here from lands so distant, from the craggy heights 
of Hohenstauffen, from the green orchards of Coten- 
tin, from the dry hills of Aragon. They sleep and 
the centuries pass by. Rude hands break open the 
granite lids of their sepulchres to find tresses of yel- 
low hair, and fragments of imperial mantles em- 
broidered with the hawks and stags the royal hunter 
loved. The church in which they lie changes with 
the change of taste in architecture and the manners 
of successive ages. But the huge stone arks remain 
unmoved, guarding their freight of mouldering dust 
beneath gloomy canopies of stone, that tempers the 
sunlight as it streams from the chapel windows." 

And again at Venosa, the little town where the 
poet Horace was born, and where William de Haute- 
ville with his brothers Drogo, Humphrey, and 

*" Studies in Southern Italy," 



THE imORMANS iN ITALY. 14/ 

Robert Guiscard are buried, we cannot do better 
than quote the same charming writer : 

" No chapter of history more resembles a romance 
than that which records the sudden rise and brief 
splendor of the house of Hauteville. In one gener- 
ation the sons of Tancred de Hauteville passed from 
the condition of squires in the Norman vale of C6- 
tentin to Kinghood in the richest island of the 
Southern Sea. The Norse adventurers became 
sultans of an Oriental capital. The sea-robbers 
assumed, together with the sceptre, the culture 
of an Arabian court . . . lived to mate their 
daughters with princes and to sway the politics 
of Europe with gold. . . . What they wrought, 
whether wisely or not, for the ultimate advan- 
tage of Italy, endures to this day, while the 
work of so many emperors, republics, and princes, 
has passed and shifted like the scenes in a panto- 
mime. Through them the Greeks, the Lombards, 
and the Moors were extinguished in the South. The 
Papacy was checked in its attempt to found a prov- 
vince of St. Peter below the Tiber. The republics 
of Naples, Caeta, Amalfi, which might have rivalled 
perchance with Milan, Genoa, and Florence, were 
subdued to a master's hand. In short, to the Nor- 
man, Italy owed that kingdom of the two Sicilies, 
which formed one third of her political balance ; and 
which proved the cause of all her most serious 
revolutions." 

Much has been lost of the detailed history of the 
Norman-Italian states, and lost especially to English 
literature. If the development of Southern Italy 



I48 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

had gone steadily forward to this time, with the 
eagerness and gathering force that might have been 
expected from that vigorous impulse of the eleventh 
century, no doubt there would have been a perma- 
nent factor in history rather than a limited epi- 
sode. The danger of the climate, to those born 
and reared in Northern or Western Europe, was un- 
doubtedly in the way of any long-continued prog- 
ress. To-day the Norman buildings look strangely 
different from their surroundings, and are almost 
the only evidence of the once brilliant and pros- 
perous government of the Normans in the South. 
One enthusiastic historian, who wrote before the 
glories of the de Hautevilles had faded, would have 
us believe that " there was more security in the 
thickets of Sicily than in the cities of other king- 
doms." 







VIII. 

THE YOUTH OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

" One equal temper of heroic hearts 

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." 

— Tennyson. 

There was one man, famous in history, who more 
than any other Norman seemed to personify his race, 
to be the type of the Norman progressiveness, firm- 
ness, and daring. He was not only remarkable among 
his countrymen, but we are forced to call him one of 
the great men and great rulers of the world. Nobody 
has been more masterful, to use a good old Saxon 
word, and therefore he came to be master of a power- 
ful, venturesome race of people and gathered wealth 
and widespread territory. Every thing would have 
slipped through his fingers before he was grown to 
manhood if his grasp had not been like steel and his 
quickness and bravery equal to every test. " He was 
born to be resisted," says one writer ; * " to excite 
men's jealousy and to awaken their life-long ani- 
mosity, only to rise triumphant above them all, 
and to show to mankind the work that one man 
can do — one man of fixed principles and resolute 

* Johnson : " The Normans in Europe." 
149 



1$0 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

will, who marks out a certain goal for himself, 
and will not be deterred, but marches steadily 
towards it with firm and ruthless step. He was a 
man to be feared and respected, but never to be 
loved ; chosen, it would seem, by Providence . . . 
to upset our foregone conclusions, and while oppos- 
ing and crushing popular heroes and national sympa- 
thies, to teach us that in the progress of nations 
there is something required beyond popularity, 
something beyond mere purity and beauty of char- 
acter — namely, the mind to conceive and the force 
of will to carry out great schemes and to reorganize 
the failing institutions and political life of states. 
Born a bastard, with no title to his dukedom but the 
will of his father ; left a minor with few friends and 
many enemies, with rival competition at home and a 
jealous over-lord only too glad to see the power of 
his proud vassal humbled, he gradually fights his 
way, gains his dukedom, and overcomes competition 
at an age when most of us are still under tutors and 
governors ; extends his dominions far beyond the 
limits transmitted to him by his forefathers, and then 
leaves his native soil to seek other conquests, to win 
another kingdom, over which again he has no claim 
but the stammering will of a weak king and his own irre- 
sistible energy, and what is still more strange, secur- 
ing the moral support of the world in his aggression, 
and winning for himself the position of an aggrieved 
person recovering his just and undoubted rights. 
Truly the Normans could have no better representa- 
tive of their extraordinary power." 

William was only seven years old or a little more 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 5 I 

when his father left him to go on pilgrimage. No 
condition could have appeared more pitiable and 
desperate than his — even in his childhood we become 
conscious of the dislike his character inspired. Of- 
ten just and true to his agreements, sometimes 
unexpectedly lenient, nothing in his nature made 
him a winner and holder of friendship, though he 
was a leader of men and a controller of them, and an 
inspirer of faithful loyalty besides the service ren- 
dered him for fear's sake. His was the rule of force 
indeed, but there is one thing to be particularly 
noted — that in a licentious, immoral age he grew up 
pure and self-controlled. That he did not do some 
bad things must not make us call him good, for a 
good man is one who does do good things. But his 
strict fashion of life kept his head clearer and his 
hands stronger, and made him wide-awake when 
other men were stupid, and so again and again he 
was able to seize an advantage and possess himself 
of the key to success. 

While his father lived, the barons paid the young 
heir unwilling respect, and there was a grim acquies- 
cence in what could not be helped. Alan of Brittany 
was faithful to his trust, and always able to check 
any dissensions and plots against his ward. The old 
animosity between him and Robert was quite for- 
gotten, apparently; but at last Alan was poisoned. 
Robert's death was the signal for a general uprising 
of the nobles, and William's life was in peril for a 
dozen years. He never did homage to the king of 
France, but for a long time nobody did homage to 
him either; the barons disdained any such alle- 



I$2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

giance, and sometimes appear to have forgotten their 
young duke altogether in their bitter quarrels, and 
murders of men of their own rank. We trace Wil- 
liam de Talvas, still the bastard's fierce enemy, 
through many plots and quarrels ; — it appears as if 
he were determined that his curse should come true, 
and made it the purpose of his life. The houses of 
Montgomery and Beaumont were linked with him 
in anarchy and treachery ; it was the Montgomeries' 
deadly mischief to which the faithful Alan fell vic- 
tim. William himself escaped assassination by a 
chance, and several of his young followers were not 
so fortunate. They were all in the strong castle of 
Vaudreuil, a place familiar to the descendants of 
Longsword, since it was the home of Sperling, the 
rich miller, whom Espriota married. The history of 
the fortress had been a history of crime, but Duke 
Robert was ready to risk the bad name for which it 
was famous, and trust his boy to its shelter. There 
had never been a blacker deed done within those 
walls than when William was only twelve years old, 
and one of his playmates, who slept in his chamber, 
was stabbed as he lay asleep. No doubt the Mont- 
gomery who struck the cruel blow thought that he 
had killed the young duke, and went away well sat- 
isfied ; but William was rescued, and carried away and 
hidden in a peasant's cottage, while the butchery of 
his friends and attendants still went on. The whole 
country swarmed with his enemies. The population 
of the Cotentin, always more Scandinavian than 
French, welcomed the possibility of independence, 
and the worst side of feudalism beeran to assert itself 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 



153 



boldly. Man against man, high rank against low 
rank, farmer against soldier, — the bloody quarrels 
increased more and more, and devastated like some 
horrible epidemic. 

There were causes enough for trouble in the state 
of feudalism itself to account for most. of the uproar 
and disorder, let alone the claim of the unwelcome 
young heir to the dukedom. It is very interesting 




A NORMAN PLOUGHMAN. 



to see how, in public sentiment, there was always an 
undertone of resentment to the feudal system, and 
of loyalty to the idea, at least, of hereditary mon- 
archy. Even Hugh the Great, of France, was gov- 
erned by it in his indifference to his good chances 
for seizing the crown years before this time ; and 
though the great empire of Charlemagne had long 
since tottered to its fall and dismemberment, there 



154 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

was still much respect for the stability and order of 
an ideal monarchical government. 

The French people had already endured some 
terrible trials, but it was not because of war and 
trouble alone that they hated their rulers, for these 
sometimes leave better things behind them ; war 
and trouble are often the only way to peace and 
quietness. They feared the very nature of feudalism 
and its political power. It seemed to hold them 
fast, and make them slaves and prisoners with its 
tangled network and clogging weights. The feudal 
lords were petty sovereigns and minor despots, who 
had certain bonds and allegiances among themselves 
and with each other, but they were, at the same time, 
absolute masters of their own domain, and their sub- 
jects, whether few or many, were under direct con- 
trol and surveillance. Under the great absolute 
monarchies, the very extent of the population and 
of the country would give a greater security and less 
disturbance of the middle and lower classes, for a 
large army could be drafted, and still there would be 
a certain lack of responsibility for a large percentage 
of the subjects. Under the feudal system there 
were no such chances; the lords were always at war, 
and kept a painfully strict account of their resources. 
Every field and every family must play a part in the 
enterprises of their master, and a continual racking 
and robbing went on. Even if the lord of a domain 
had no personal quarrel to settle, he was likely to be 
called upon by his upholder and ally to take part 
with him against another. In the government of a 
senate or an ecclesiastical council, the common peo- 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 155 

pie were governed less capriciously ; their favor was 
often sought, even in those days, by the different 
factions who had ends to gain, and were willing to 
grant favors in return ; but the feudal lords were 
quite independent, and could do as they pleased 
without asking anybody's advice or consent. 

This concerns the relation of the serfs to their 
lords, but among the lords themselves affairs were 
quite different. From the intricate formalities of obli- 
gation and dependence, from the necessity for each 
feudal despot's vigilant watchfulness and careful prep- 
aration and self-control and quick-sighted decision, 
arose a most active, well-developed class of nobles. 
While the master of a feudal castle (or robber-strong- 
hold, whichever we choose to call it) was absent on 
his forays, or more determined wars, his wife took 
his place, and ruled her dependents and her house- 
hold with ability. The Norman women of the 
higher classes were already famous far and wide 
through Europe, and, since we are dealing with the 
fortunes of Normandy, we like to picture them in 
their castle-halls in all their dignity and authority, 
and to imagine their spirited faces, and the beauty 
which is always a power, and which some of them 
had learned already to make a power for good. 

No matter how much we deplore the condition of 
Normandy and the lower classes of society, and 
sympathize with the wistfulness and enforced pa- 
tience of the peasantry ; no matter how perplexed we 
are at the slowness of development in certain direc- 
tions, we are attracted and delighted by other as- 
pects. We turn our heads quickly at the sound of 



156 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

martial music. The very blood thrills and leaps 
along our veins as we watch the Norman knights 
ride by along the dusty Roman roads. The spears 
shine in the sunlight, the horses prance, the robber- 
castles clench their teeth and look down from the 
hills as if they were grim stone monsters lying in 
wait for prey. The apple-trees are in blossom, and 
the children scramble out of the horses' way ; the 
flower of chivalry is out parading, and in clanking ar- 
mor, with flaunting banners and crosses on their 
shields, the knights ride by to the defence of Jerusa- 
lem. Knighthood was in its early prime, and in this 
gay, romantic fashion, with tender songs to the ladies 
they loved and gallantly defended, with a prayer to 
the Virgin Mary, their patroness, because they rever- 
enced the honor and purity of womanhood, they 
fought through many a fierce fight, with the bitter, 
steadfast courage of brave men whose heart is in 
their cause. It was an easy step from their defiance 
of the foes of Normandy to the defence of the 
Church of God. Religion itself was the suggester 
and promoter of chivalry, and the Normans forgot 
their lesser quarrels and petty grievances when the 
mother church held up her wrongs and sufferings to 
their sympathy. It was to Christianity that the 
mediaeval times owed knighthood, and, while his- 
torians complain of the lawlessness of the age, the 
crimes and violence, the social confusion and vulgar- 
ity, still the poetry and austerity and real beauty of 
the knightly traditions shine out all the brighter. 
Men had got hold of some new suggestions ; the 
best of them were examples of something better than 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 



157 



the world had ever known. As we glance over the 
list of rules to which a knight was obliged to sub- 
scribe, we cannot help rejoicing at the new ideal of 
christian manhood. 

Rolf the Ganger had been proud rather than 
ashamed of his brutal ferocity and selfishness. This 
new standard demands as good soldiery as ever ; in 
fact, a greater daring and utter absence of fear, but 




ARMING A KNIGHT. 



it recognizes the rights of other people, and the sin- 
gle-heartedness and tenderness of moral strength. 
It is a very high ideal. 

A little later than the time of William the Con- 
queror's youth, there were formal ceremonies at the 
making of a knight, and these united so surprisingly 
the poet's imaginary knighthood and the customs of 
military life and obligations of religious life, that we 
cannot wonder at their influence. 



I58 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

The young man was first stripped of his clothes 
and put into a bath, to wash all former contamina- 
tions from body and soul — a typical second baptism, 
done by his own free will and desire. Afterward, he 
was clothed first in a white tunic, to symbolize his 
purity ; next in a red robe, a sign of the blood he 
must be ready to shed in defending the cause of 
Christ ; and over these garments was put a tight 
black gown, to represent the mystery of death which 
must be solved at last by him, and every man. 

Then the black-robed candidate was left alone to 
fast and pray for twenty-four hours, and when even- 
ing came, they led him to the church to pray all 
night long, either by himself, or with a priest and his 
own knightly sponsors for companions. Next day 
he made confession ; then the priest gave him the 
sacrament, and afterward he went to hear mass and 
a sermon about his new life and a knight's duties. 
When this was over, a sword was hung around his 
neck and he went to the altar, where the priest took 
off the sword, blessed it, and put it on again. Then 
the candidate went to kneel before the lord who was 
to arm him, and was questioned strictly about his 
reasons for becoming a knight, and was warned that 
he must not desire to be rich or to take his ease, or 
to gain honor from knighthood without doing it 
honor; at last the young man solemnly promised to 
do his duty, and his over-lord to whom he did homage 
granted his request to be made a knight. 

After this the knights and ladies dressed him in 
his new garments, and the spurs came first of all 
the armor, then the haubert or coat of mail ; next 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 159 

the cuirass, the armlets, and gauntlets, and, last of all, 
the sword. Now he was ready for the accolade ; the 
over-lord rose and went to him and gave him three 
blows with the fiat of the sword on his shoulder or 
neck, and sometimes a blow with the hand on his 
breast, and said : " In the name of God, of St. Michael 
and St. George, I make thee knight. Be valiant and 
fearless and loyal." 

Then his horse was led in, and a helmet was put 
on the new knight's head, and he mounted quickly 
and flourished his lance and sword, and went out of 
the church to show himself to the people gathered 
outside, and there was a great cheering, and pranc- 
ing of horses, and so the outward ceremony was 
over, and he was a dubbed knight, as the old phrase 
has it — adopted knight would mean the same thing 
to-day ; he belonged to the great Christian brother- 
hood of chivalry. We have seen how large a part 
religion played in the rites and ceremonies, but we 
can get even a closer look at the spirit of knighthood 
if we read some of the oaths that were taken by 
these young men, who were the guardians and 
scholars of whatever makes for peace, even while 
they chose the ways of war and did such eager, de- 
voted work with their swords. . M. Guizot, from 
whose " History of France " I have taken the greater 
part of this description, goes on to give twenty-six 
articles to which the knights swore, not that these 
made a single ritual, but were gathered from the ac- 
counts of different epochs. They are so interesting, 
as showing the steady growth and development of 
better ideas and purposes, that I copy them here. 



l6o THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Indeed we can hardly understand the later Norman 
history, and the crusades particularly, unless we 
make the knights as clear to ourselves as we tried to 
make the vikings. 

We must thank the clergymen of the tenth and elev- 
enth centuries for this new thought about the duties 
and relationships of humanity, — men like Abelard 
and St. Anselm, and the best of their contempor- 
aries. It is most interesting to see how the church 
availed herself of the feudal bonds and sympathies 
of men, and their warlike sentiment and organization, 
to develop a better and more peaceful service of 
God. Truthfulness and justice and purity were 
taught by the church's influence, and licentiousness 
and brutality faded out as the new order of things 
gained strength and brightness. Later the pendu- 
lum swung backward, and the church used all the 
terrors of tyranny, fire, and sword, to further her 
ends and emphasize her authority, instead of the 
authority of God's truth and the peace of heavenly 
living. The church became a name and cover for 
the ambitions of men. 

Whatever the pretences and mockeries and rival- 
ries and thefts of authority may be on the part of 
unworthy churchmen, we hardly need to remind 
ourselves that in every age the true church exists, 
and that true saints are living their holy, helpful 
lives, however shadowed and concealed. Even if 
the harvest of grain in any year is called a total loss, 
and the country never suffered so much before from 
dearth, there is always enough wheat or corn to plant 
the next spring, and the fewer handfuls the more 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. l6l 

precious it is sure to seem. In this eleventh cen- 
tury, a century which in many ways was so disor- 
derly and cruel, we are always conscious of the pres- 
ence of the "blameless knights' who went boldly 
to the fight ; the priests and monks of God who hid 
themselves and prayed in cell and cloister. " It was 
feudal knighthood and Christianity together," says 
Guizot, " which produced the two great and glorious 
events of that time — the Norman conquest of Eng- 
land, and the Crusades." 

These were the knight's promises and oaths as 
Guizot repeats them, and we shall get no harm from 
reading them carefully and trying to keep them our- 
selves, even though all our battles are of another 
sort and much duller fights against temptations. It 
must be said that our enemies often come riding 
down upon us in as fine a way and break a lance with 
us in as magnificent a fashion as in the days of the 
old tournaments. But our contests are apt to be 
more like the ancient encounters with cruel treach- 
ery of wild beasts in desert places, than like those at 
the gay jousts, with all the shining knights and 
ladies looking on to admire and praise. 

The candidates swore : First, to fear, reverence, 
and serve God religiously, to fight for the faith with 
all their might, and to die a thousand deaths rather 
than renounce Christianity ; 

To serve their sovereign prince faithfully, and to 
fight for him and fatherland right valiantly; 

To uphold the rights of the weaker, such as 
widows, orphans, and damsels, in fair quarrel, ex- 
posing themselves on that account according as need 



1 62 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

might be, provided it were not against their own 
honor or against their king or lawful princes. 

That they would not injure any one maliciously, 
or take what was another's, but would rather do bat- 
tle with those who did so. 

That greed, pay, gain, or profit should never con- 
strain them to do any deed, but only glory and vir- 
tue. 

That they would fight for the good and advan- 
tage of the common weal. 

That they would be bound by and obey the orders 
of their generals and captains, who had a right to 
command them. 

That they would guard the honor, rank, and order 
of their comrades, and that they would, neither by 
arrogance nor by force, commit any trespass against 
any one of them. 

That they would never fight in companies against 
one, and that they would eschew all tricks and 
artifices. 

That they would wear but one sword, unless they 
had to fight against two or more enemies. 

That in tourney or other sportive contests, they 
would never use the point of their swords. 

That being taken prisoner in a tourney, they 
would be bound on their faith and honor to perform 
in every point the conditions of capture, besides 
being bound to give up to the victors their arms and 
horses, if it seemed good to take them, being also 
disabled from fighting in war or elsewhere without 
their victor's leave. 

That they would keep faith inviolably with all the 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 63 

world, and especially with their comrades, upholding 
their honor and advantage wholly in their absence. 

That they would love and honor one another, and 
aid and succor one another whenever occasion offered. 

That having made vow or promise to go on any 
quest or adventure, they would never put off their 
arms save for the night's rest. 

That in pursuit of their quest or adventure, they 
would not shun bad and perilous passes, nor turn 
aside from the straight road for fear of encountering 
powerful knights, or monsters, or wild beasts, or 
other hindrance, such as the body and courage of a 
single man might tackle. 

That they would never take wage or pay from any 
foreign prince. 

That in command of troops or men-at-arms, they 
would live in the utmost possible order and disci- 
pline, and especially in their own country, where they 
would never suffer any harm or violence to be done. 

That if they were bound to escort dame or dam- 
sel, they would serve, protect, and save her from all 
danger and insult, or die in the attempt. 

That they would never offer violence to any dame 
or damsel, though they had won her by deeds of 
arms. 

That being challenged to equal combat, they 
would not refuse without wound, sickness, or other 
reasonable hindrance. 

That, having undertaken to carry out any enter- 
prise, they would devote to it night and day, unless 
they were called away for the service of their king 
and country. 



164 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

That, if they made a vow to acquire any honor, 
they would not draw back without having attained 
it or its equivalent. 

That they would be faithful keepers of their word 
and pledged faith, and that, having become prisoners 
in fair warfare, they would pay to the uttermost the 
promised ransom, or return to prison at the day and 
hour agreed upon, on pain of being proclaimed infa- 
mous and perjured. 

That, on returning to the court of their sovereign, 
they would render a true account of their adventures, 
even though they had sometimes been worsted, to 
the king and the registrar of the order, on pain of 
being deprived of the order of knighthood. 

That, above all things, they would be faithful, 
courteous, and humble, and would never be wanting 
to their word for any harm or loss that might accrue 
to them." 

It would not do to take these holy principles, or 
the pageant of knight-errantry, for a picture of 
Normandy in general. We can only remind our- 
selves with satisfaction that this leaven was working 
in the mass of turbulent, vindictive society. The 
priests worked very hard to keep their hold upon 
their people, and the authority of the church proved 
equal to many a subtle weakness of faith and quick 
strain of disloyalty. We should find it difficult to 
match the amazing control of the state by the 
church in any other country, — even in the most 
superstitiously devout epochs. When the priest- 
hood could not make the Normans promise to keep 
the peace altogether, they still obtained an astonish- 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 65 

ing concession and truce. There was no fighting 
from Wednesday evening at sunset until Monday 
morning at sunrise. During these five nights and 
four days no fighting, burning, robbing, or plunder- 
ing could go on, though for the three days and two 
nights left of the week any violence and crime were 
not only pardonable, but allowed. In this Truce of 
God, not only the days of Christ's Last Supper, 
Passion, and Resurrection were to remain undese- 
crated, but longer periods of time, such as from the 
first day of Advent until the Epiphany, and other 
holy seasons. If the laws of the Truce were broken, 
there were heavy penalties: thirty years' hard pen- 
ance in exile for the contrite offender, and he must 
make reparation for all the evil he had committed, 
and repay his debt for all the spoil. If he died un- 
repentant, he was denied Christian burial and all the 
offices of the church, and his body was given to wild 
beasts and the fowls of the air. 

To be sure, the more ungodly portion of the citi- 
zens fought against such strict regulations, and 
called those knights whom the priests armed, " cits 
without spirit," and even harder names, but for 
twelve years the Truce was kept. The free days for 
murder and theft were evidently made the most of, 
and from what we can discover, it appears as if the 
Normans used the Truce days for plotting rather 
than for praying. Yet it was plain that the world 
was getting ready for great things, and that great 
emergencies were beginning to make themselves 
evident. New ideas were on the wing, and in 
spite of the despotism of the church, sometimes by 



1 66 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

very reason of it, we can see that men were breaking 
their intellectual fetters and becoming freer and 
wiser. A new order of things was coming in ; there 
was that certain development of Christian ideas, which 
reconciles the student of history in every age to the 
constant pain and perplexity of watching misdirected 
energies and hindering blunders and follies. 

" It often happens that popular emotions, however 
deep and general, remain barren, just as in the 
vegetable world many sprouts come to the surface 
of the ground, and then die without growing any 
more or bearing any fruit. It is not sufficient for 
the bringing about of great events and practical 
results, that popular aspirations should be merely 
manifested ; it is necessary further that some great 
soul, some powerful will, should make itself the 
organ and agent of the public sentiment, and bring 
it to fecundity, by becoming its type — its personifi- 
cation." * 

In the middle of this eleventh century, the time of 
William the Conqueror's youth, the opposing ele- 
ments of Christian knighthood, and the fighting 
spirit of the viking blood, were each to find a cham- 
pion in the same leader. The young duke's early 
years were a hard training, and from his loveless 
babyhood to his unwept death, he had the bitter 
sorrows that belong to the life of a cruel man and 
much-feared tyrant. It may seem to be a strange 
claim to make for William the Conqueror — that he 
represented Christian knighthood — but we must re- 
member that fighting was almost the first duty of 
* Guizot. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 



167 



man in those days, and that this greatest of the 
Norman dukes, with all his brutality and apparent 
heartlessness and selfishness, believed in his church, 




CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 



and kept many of her laws which most of his com- 
rades broke as a matter of course. We cannot 
remind ourselves too often that he was a man of 



1 68 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

pure life in a most unbridled and immoral age, if we 
judge by our present standards of either purity or 
immorality. There is always a temptation in reading 
or writing about people who lived in earlier times, to 
rank them according to our own- laws of morality 
and etiquette, but the first thing to be done is to get 
a clear idea of the time in question. The hero of 
Charlemagne's time or the Conqueror's may prove 
any thing but a hero in our eyes, but we must take 
him in relation to his own surroundings. The great 
laws of truth and justice and kindness remain, while 
the years come and go ; the promises of God endure, 
but while there is, as one may say, a common law of 
heavenly ordering, there are also the various statute 
laws that vary with time and place, and these forever 
change as men change, and the light of civilization 
burns brighter and clearer. 

In William the Conqueror's lifetime, every landed 
gentleman fortified his house against his neighbors, 
and even made a secure and loathsome prison in his 
cellar for their frequent accommodation. This seems 
inhospitable, to say the least, and gives a tinge of 
falseness to such tender admonitions as prevailed in 
regard to charity and treatment of wayfarers. Yet 
every rich man was ambitious to go down to fame 
as a benefactor of the church ; all over Normandy 
and Brittany there was a new growth of religious 
houses, and those of an earlier date, which had lain 
in ruins since the Northmen's time, were rebuilt 
with pious care. There appears to have been a new 
awakening of religious interest in the year iooo, 
which lasted late into the century. There was a 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 69 

surprising fear and anticipation of the end of the 
world, which led to a vast number of penitential 
deeds of devotion, and it was the same during the 
two or three years after 1030, at the close of the life 
of King Robert of France. 

Normandy and all the neighboring countries were 
scourged by even worse plagues than the feudal 
wars. The drought was terrible, and the famine 
which followed desolated the land everywhere. The 
trees and fields were scorched and shrivelled, and the 
poor peasants fought with the wild beasts for dead 
bodies that had fallen by the roadside and in the 
forests. Sometimes men killed their comrades for 
very hunger, like wolves. There was no commerce 
which could supply the failure of one country's crops 
with the overflow of another's at the other side of the 
world, but at last the rain fell in France, and the 
misery was ended. A thousand votive offerings were 
made for very thankfulness, for again the people had 
expected the end of the world, and it had seemed 
most probable that such an arid earth should be near 
its final burning and desolation. 

In the towns, under ordinary circumstances, there 
was a style of living that was almost luxurious. The 
Normans were skilful architects, and not only their 
minsters and monasteries, but their houses too, were 
fit for such proud inhabitants, and rich with hangings 
and comfortable furnishings. The women were 
more famous than ever for needlework, some of it 
most skilful in design, and the great tapestries are 
yet in existence that were hung, partly for warmth's 
sake, about the stone walls of the castles. Some- 



170 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

times the noble ladies who sat at home while their 
lords went out to the wars, worked great pictures on 
these tapestries of various events of family history, 
and these family records of battles and gallant 
bravery by land and sea are most interesting now 
for their costume and color, beside their corrobora- 
tion of historical traditions. 

We have drifted away, in this chapter, from Wil- 
liam the Conqueror himself, but I believe that we 
know more about the Normandy which he was to 
govern, and can better understand his ambitions, his 
difficulties, and his successes. A country of priests 
and soldiers, of beautiful women and gallant men ; 
a social atmosphere already alive with light, gayety, 
and brightness, but swayed with pride and supersti- 
tion, with worldliness and austerity ; loyal to Rome, 
greedy for new territory, the feudal lords imperious 
masters of complaining yet valiant serfs ; racked 
everywhere by civil feuds and petty wars and in- 
stinctive jealousies of French and foreign blood— this 
was Normandy. The Englishmen come and go and 
learn good manners and the customs of chivalry, 
England herself is growing rich and stupid, for 
Harthacnut had introduced a damaging custom of 
eating four great meals a day, and his subjects had 
followed the fashion, though that king himself had 
died of it and of his other habit of drinking all 
night long with merry companions. 



IX. 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 



-One decree 



Spake laws to them, and said that, by the soul 
Only, the nations should be great and free." 

— Wordsworth. 

It is time to take a closer look at England and at 
the shameful degradations of ^ithelred's time. The 
inroads of the Danes read like the early history of 
Normandy, and we must take a step backward in the 
condition of civilization when we cross to the other 
side of the Channel. There had been great changes 
since yElfred's wise and prosperous reign, or even 
since the time of /Ethelred's predecessor, Eadgar, 
who was rowed in his royal-barge at Chester by 
eight of his vassal kings — Kenneth of Scots, Mal- 
colm of Cumberland, Maccus of the Isles, and five 
Welsh monarchs. The lord of Britain was gracious 
enough to do the steering for so noble a company of 
oarsmen, and it was considered the proudest day 
that ever had shone upon an English king. 

We must remind ourselves of the successive waves 
of humanity which had overspread England in past 
ages, leaving traces of each like less evident geologic 

171 



172 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

strata. From the stone and bronze age people, 
through the Celts with their Pictish and Scottish 
remnant, through the Roman invasion, and the 
Saxon, more powerful and enduring than any from 
our point of view, we may trace a kinship to our 
Normans across the water. But the English de- 
scendants of Celts, Danes, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes 
needed to feel anew influence and refreshing of their 
better instincts by way of Normandy. 

Perhaps each one of the later rulers of Britain 
thought he had fallen upon as hard and stormy 
times and had as much responsibility as anybody 
who ever wielded a sceptre, but in the reign of 
the second yEthelred, there are much greater dramas 
being played, and we feel, directly we get a 
hint of it, as children do who have been loitering 
among petty side-shows on their way to a great play. 
Here come the Danes again, the kings of Denmark 
and the whole population of Norway one would 
think, to read the records, and this time they attack 
England with such force and determination that 
within less than forty years a Danish king is master 
of Britain. 

If ^Ethelred had been a better man this might 
never have happened, but among all the Saxon 
kings he seems to have been the worst — thoroughly 
bad, weak, cowardly, and cruel. He was sure to do 
things he had better have left alone, and to neglect 
his plain duty. Other kings had fallen on as hard, 
perplexing times as he, but they had been strong 
enough to keep some sort of control of themselves at 
any rate. Dunstan the archbishop warned the peo- 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 73 

pie, when ^Ethelred was crowned, that they had no 
idea of the trouble that was coming, and through 
the whole reign things went from bad to worse. 
Dreadful things happened which we can hardly blame 
the silly king for — -like a plague among cattle, and 
the burning of London in 982 ; and a few years after- 
ward there was a terrible invasion of the Norwegians, 
and we have seen that aid and comfort were ready for 
them over in Bayeux and the pirate cities of Nor- 
mandy. 

Now we first hear of the Danegelt, great sums of 
money, always doubling and increasing, that were 
paid the Northmen as bribes to go away and leave 
England in peace. The paying of this Danegelt be- 
came a greater load than the nation could carry, for 
the pirates liked nothing better than to gather a 
great fleet of ships every few months and come to 
anchor off the coast, sending a messenger to make 
the highwayman's favorite request, your money or 
your life ! One of the first sums boldly demanded 
of yEthelred's aldermen was ten thousand pounds. 
We can see how rapidly the wealth of England 
had increased, for in Alfred's time the fine for 
killing a king was a hundred and twenty shillings, 
and this was considered a great sum of money; the 
penalty for taking a peasant's life was only five 
shillings, which makes us understand, without any 
doubt, the scarceness and value of money. Here 
are some extracts from the English chronicle, which 
had been kept since Bede's time and for many years 
after this, which will show how miserably every thing 
was going on : 



174 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

iooi. "The army [the Danes of course] went 
over the land and did as was their wont. Slew and 
burned ... it was sad in every way for they 
never ceased from their evil." 

1002. " In this year the king and his witan resolved, 
that tribute would be paid and peace made with 
them, on condition that they should cease from their 
evil. This they accepted and were paid, ;£ 24,000. 

1006. "At midwinter the Winchester folk might 
see an insolent and fearless army as they went by 
their gate to the sea, and fetched them food and 
treasure over fifty miles from the sea. Then was 
there so great awe of the army that no one could 
think or devise how they should be driven from the 
country. Every shire in Wessex had they cruelly 
marked with burning and with harrying. The king 
began then with his witan earnestly to consider what 
might seem most advisable to them all, so that the 
country might be protected ere it were at last un- 
done." This time the tribute was ^"36,000, and an- 
other time the ships put to sea with a Danegelt of 
^48,000. 

England grew more and more miserable and 
shamefully unable to defend herself, the captains 
of her fleet were incapable or treacherous, and 
at last, when some of the ships had been wrecked 
and there had been some sad disasters at sea, the 
chronicle has a more despairing tone than ever. " It 
was as if all counsel had come to an end," the writer 
says, " and the king and aldermen and all the high 
witan went home, and let the toil of all the nation 
lightly perish." 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 17$ 

^Ethelred the Unready won for himself, in his 
reign of thirty-eight years, the hearty contempt and 
distrust of all his people. There is a temptation to 
blame him for the misery of England, and to at- 
tribute it all to his faults and to the low aims and 
standards of his character, to his worthless ambitions. 
But, in a general way, the great men, or notorious 
men of history, who stand out before a dim and half- 
forgotten background, are only typical of their time 
and representative of it. One very good man, or 
bad man, cannot be absolutely a single specimen of 
his kind ; there must be others who rank with him, 
and who have been his upholders and influencers. So 
while the story of any nation is in its early chapters, 
and seems to be merely an account of one ruler or 
statesman after another, we must not forget that 
each symbolized his day and generation, — a brave 
leader of a brave race, or a dull or placid or serene 
representative of a secure, inactive age. 

Although there was blundering enough and 
treachery in ^Ethelred's reign, there was a splendid 
exception in the victories and steadfastness of the 
city of London, which was unsuccessfully attacked 
again and again by the Danes. The heathen, as 
the English called their enemies, were lucky in their 
two leaders, the king of Norway, and the king of 
Denmark. Olaf, the first-named, was converted 
after a while, and going from the islands of Orkney 
to England, he was baptized there, and the English 
bishops were very kind to him, and ^thelred gave 
him some presents, and made him promise that he 
would not come plundering to England any more. 



176 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

We are quite surprised to hear that the promise was 
kept. Swegen the Dane promised too, but he ap- 
peared again after a while, and ^Ethelred thought he 
would improve upon the fashion of paying Dane- 
gelt by ordering a general massacre of all the Danes 
instead. Afterward somebody tried to excuse such 
a piece of barbarianism by saying that the Danes had 
plotted against the king, but even if they had, 
yEthelred showed a wretched spirit. It was a time 
of peace, but he sent secret messengers all through 
the country, and as the English were only too glad 
to carry out such orders, there was a terrible 
slaughter of men, Women, and children. 

Next year Swegen came back to avenge the wrong, 
all the more readily because his own sister and her 
husband and son were among the murdered, and the 
poor woman had made a prophecy, as she fell, dying, 
that misery and vengeance should fall upon the Eng- 
lish for their sins. For a long time afterward the 
Danes were very fierce and kept England in fear and 
disorder. Once they laid siege to Canterbury, and 
when it had fallen into their hands they demanded 
Danegelt from the Archbishop, a very good old 
man. He had a heart full of pity for his poor 
people already so abominably taxed and oppressed 
in every way, and was brave enough to squarely re- 
fuse, so the Danes slew him with horrible torture ; 
one might tell many such stories of the cruelty 
and boldness of the invaders. ^Ethelred was per- 
fectly helpless or else cowardly and indifferent, and 
presently Swegen, who had gone back to the North 
returned with a great fleet and a swarm of followers, 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. l"JJ 

and not long afterward he conquered every sort of 
opposition, even that of the brave Londoners, and 
was proclaimed king of England. Here was a 
change indeed ! the silly Saxon king and his wife 
and children fled across the sea to Normandy, and 
Swegen sat upon the throne. He began to reign in 
splendid state ; he had the handsomest ships afloat, 
all decked out with figures of men and birds and 
beasts wrought in silver and amber and gold, and 
fine decorations of every sort. No doubt he had 
made fine plans and meant to do great deeds, but he 
died suddenly within a very short time, and the peo- 
ple believed he was frightened to death by a vision. 
yEthelred was in Normandy at the court of Richard 
the Fearless. You remember that Richard's sis- 
ter Emma went over to England to marry the un- 
ready king. yEthelred had one older son, Eadmund 
Ironside, beside the two boys who were Emma's 
children, and the hearts of the English turned to 
their old king, and at last they sent for him to come 
back, in spite of his faults. He made many fine 
promises, and seems to have done a great deal better 
most of the time during the last two years that he 
lived. Perhaps he had taken some good lessons from 
the Norman court. But Cnut, Swegen's son, came 
back to England, just before he died, as fearless as a 
hawk, and led his men from one victory to another, 
and yEthelred faded out of life to everybody's relief. 
When he was dead at last, the witan chose Cnut 
for king in his stead, but the Londoners, who were 
rich and strong, and who hated the Danes bitterly — 
the Londoners would have none of the pirates to 



17^ THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

reign over them, and elected young Eadmund Iron» 
side, a valiant soldier and loyal-hearted fellow who 
feared nothing and was ready to dare every thing. 
The two young kings were well matched and fought 
six great battles, in most of which Ironside gained 
the advantage, but at last the Danes beat him back- 
and though everybody was ready for a seventh bat- 
tle, the witan showed their wisdom for once and for- 
bade any more fighting, and somehow managed to 
proclaim peace. The young kings treated each other 
most generously, and called each other brother, and 
were very cordial and good-natured. They agreed 
to divide the kingdom, so that Eadmund Ironside had 
all England south of the Thames — East Anglia and 
Essex and London. Cnut took all the northern 
country and owned Eadmund for his over-lord, but 
within the year Cnut reigned alone. Eadmund 
died suddenly — some say that he was murdered, and 
some that he had worn himself out with his tremen- 
dous activity and anxiety. It is a great temptation 
to follow out the story of such a man, and especially 
because he lived in such an important time, but we 
must hurry now to the point where Norman and 
English history can be told together, and only stop 
to explain such things as will make us able to under- 
stand and take sides in the alliance of the two vigor- 
ous, growing nations. 

Cnut's life, too, is endlessly interesting. He be- 
gan by behaving like a pirate, and the latter part 
of his reign was a great reform and a very comforta- 
ble time for England, so scarred and spoiled by war. 
In the beginning there was a great question about 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 79 

the kingship. In those days it was a matter of great 
importance that the king should be able to rule and 
able to fight, and the best and most powerful mem- 
ber of the royal family was the proper one to choose. 




KING CNUT. 
(From the Register of Hyde Abbey.) 

The English for a long time had elected their kings, 
and Cnut, though he held half the country, was 
very careful not to seize the rest by force. We 



l8o THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

watch with great interest his wielding of rude poli- 
tics before the witan ; he called them into council 
and laid his claim before them. 

Eadmund Ironside had left two little sons, but no- 
body thought of their being his successors. Indeed 
Cnut showed a great fear of the royal family, and 
took care that his rivals should be disposed of ; he 
knew that the witan and everybody else were tired 
of the everlasting war and bloodshed. He was fierce 
and downright in his demands, and in the end the 
heirs of Ironside were all passed over — the Athelings 
or princes were all set aside, and Cnut the Dane 
was king of England. 

Ironside's brother, Eadwy, of whom the best things 
are said, was outlawed, and died within a few months 
under very suspicious circumstances. The two little 
boys, Ironside's sons, were sent out of the country 
to Cnut's half-brother, the king of Sweden, with 
orders that they should be put out of the way. The 
king felt such pity for the innocent children, that he 
sent them away to Hungary instead of having them 
murdered. The Hungarian king, Stephen, was a 
saint and a hero, and he was very kind to the poor 
exiles, and brought them up carefully. One died 
young, but we shall hear again about the other. 

Cnut did a very surprising thing next. He sent 
for Queen Emma to come back again from the Nor- 
man court to marry him. She must have been a 
good deal older than he, but she was still a beautiful 
woman, and marked with the famous Norman 
dignity and grace. Cnut promised that if they 
should ever have a son born, he should be the next 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. l8l 

king of England. Emma's two elder sons, Alfred 
and Eadward, were left in Normandy, and there they 
grew up quite apart from their mother, and thinking 
much more of their Norman descent and belonging 
than of their English heritage. 

Cnut now appears in the light of a model sov- 
ereign for those days. He had renounced all his 
pagan ideas, and been christened and received into 
the Church. We might expect that he would have 
pushed his own countrymen forward and all the Dan- 
ish interests, but it was quite the other way. At 
the beginning of his reign he had executed several 
powerful English nobles whose influence and antago- 
nism he had reason to fear; but now he favored the 
English in a marked way, and even ordered his ships 
and all the pirates and fighting men back to the 
North. It seems very strange, now, that a king of 
England ever reigned over Sweden and Denmark, 
and Norway beside, but it seems as if Cnut were 
prouder of being king of England than of all his 
other powers and dignities. He was not only very 
gracious and friendly with his English subjects at 
home, but he sent them abroad to be bishops, and 
displeased the Danish parishes by such arrange- 
ments. 

We all know the story of the rising tide, and 
Cnut's reproof to his courtiers on the sea-shore. 
As we read about him we are reminded a little of 
Rolf the Ganger, and his growth from pirate fashions 
to a more gentle and decent humanity. The two 
men were not so very unlike after all, but I must 
confess that I think with a good deal of sympathy 



1 82 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

of Cnut's decision to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. 
It was expecting a good deal of the young sea-rover 
that he should stay quietly at home to rule his king- 
dom. The spirit of adventure stirred in his veins, 
and we may be sure that he enjoyed his long and 
perilous overland journey to Italy. He made the 
road safer for his countrymen who might also have 
a pious desire to worship at the famous foreign 
shrines. He complained to the emperor and the 
priests at Rome about the robber-chiefs who pounced 
down upon travellers from their castles in the Alps, 
and they promised to keep better order. The 
merchants and pilgrims were often laden with rich 
offerings for the churches, besides goods which they 
wished to sell, and the robbers kept watch for them. 
Their ruined fortresses are still perched along the 
Alpine passes, and one cannot help hoping that 
Cnut had some exciting disputes with his enemies, 
and a taste of useful fighting and proper discipline 
among the bold marauders. 

He wrote a famous letter about his pilgrimage, 
directed to the archbishops, and bishops, the great 
men, and all the people. He tells whom he saw in 
Rome — the Pope, and the German Emperor, and 
other great lords of the earth ; and says, with pride, 
that every one has treated him handsomely, and what 
fine presents he has had given him to carry home. 
He had come to Rome for the good of his people, 
and for the salvation of his own soul, he tells them 
seriously; and one thing he did for England was to 
complain of the heavy taxes the church had put 
upon it, and the Pope promised that such injustice 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 83 

should not happen any more. There is something 
very touching in the way that he says he had made 
a great many good resolves about his future life, and 
that he is not ashamed to own that he has done 
wrong over and over again, but he means, by God's 
help, to amend entirely. He vows to Heaven that 
he will govern his life rightly, and rule his kingdom 
honestly and piously, and that neither rich nor poor 
shall be oppressed or hardshipped. There never 
was a better letter, altogether, and Cnut kept his 
promises so well that the old Anglo-Saxon chronicle, 
which aches with stories of war and trouble, grows 
quite dull now in the later years of his reign. There 
was nothing to tell any more, the monks thought 
who kept the record ; but we know, for that very 
reason, that the English farms flourished, and the 
wheat fields waved in the summer wind, the towns 
grew rich, and the merchants prosperous ; and when 
the English-Northman king died, it was a sad day 
for England. Cnut was only forty years old, but 
that was a long time for a king to live. His son, 
Harold Harefoot, reigned in his stead, and many 
of the old troubles of the country sprang up 
at once, as if they had only been asleep for a 
little while, and were by no means out-grown or 
ended. 

Harold Harefoot was not in the least pious, and 
behaved himself with most unreasonable folly, and 
fortunately died at the close of four years of insult 
and unworthiness. Then Harthacnut, the younger 
brother, was made king, and he promptly demanded 
a Danegelt, the most hateful of taxes, and did 



184 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

a great many things which only reopened the breach 
between Dane and Englishman, though it had seemed 
to be smoothed over somewhat in his father's time. 
Harold had done one brutal thing that towered 
above all the rest. The two princes who had been 
living in Normandy thought there might be some 
chance of their gaining a right to the throne, and the 
younger one, ^Elfred, had come over to England with 
his knights and gentlemen. Harold seized them and 
was most cruel ; he first blinded his half-brother and 
then had him put to death. This made a great 
noise in Normandy, and there is one good thing to 
be said about Harthacnut, that he was bitterly angry 
with his brother, and also with Earl Godwine, a fa- 
mous nobleman, who was the most powerful man in 
England next the king. He was Cnut's favorite 
and chief adviser, but Harthacnut suspected that he 
had a hand in yElfred's murder. Nobody has ever 
been quite clear about the matter. Godwine and all 
his lords swore that he was innocent, and gave the 
king a magnificent ship with all sorts of splendors 
belonging to it, besides nearly a hundred men in full 
armor, and gold bracelets to make them as grand as 
could be. So the king accepted Godwine's oath in 
view of such a polite attention, but he asked Eadward 
to leave the Norman court and come over to live 
with him. Eadward came, and in two years he was 
king of England, Harthacnut having died a wretched 
drunken death. 

So again there was a descendant of ^Elfred the 
Great and the house of Cerdic on the throne. Ead- 
ward was the last of the line, and in his day began 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 185 

the most exciting and important chapter of English 
history — the Norman Conquest. 

We have come quickly along the line of Danish 
kings, and now it is time to stop and take a more 
careful look at the state of manners and customs in 
England, and make ou/selves sure what the English 
people of that time were like, how they lived in their 
houses, and what changes had come to the country 
in general. There were certain hindrances to civili- 
zation, and lacks of a fitting progress and true 
growth. Let us see what these things were, and 
how the greater refinement of the Normans, their 
superior gifts and graces, must come into play a little 
later. There was some deep meaning in the fusion 
of the two peoples, and more than one reason why 
they could form a greater nation together than either 
Normans or Englishmen could alone. 

First, the dwellers on English soil had shown a 
tendency, not yet entirely outgrown, to fall back into 
a too great indulgence in luxurious living. When 
the storm and strain of conquest, of colonization, had 
spent itself, the Englishmen of Eadward's and Cnut's 
time betook themselves to feasting and lawlessness, 
of the sort that must undermine the vigor of any 
people. The fat of the land tempted them in many 
ways, and they sank under such habits as quickly as 
they had risen under the necessities that war makes 
for sacrifices and temperance. They were suffering, 
too, from their insularity ; they were taken up with 
their own affairs, and had kept apart from the prog- 
ress of the rest of Europe. There was a new wave 
and impulse of scholarship, which had not yet reached 



1 86 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

them. It was ebb-tide in England in more ways 
than one ; and time for those Normans to appear 
who, to use the words of one of their historians, 
" borrow every thing and make it their own, and 
their presence is chiefly felt in increased activity and 
more rapid development of institutions, literature, 
and art. Thus . . . they perfect, they organize 
every thing, and everywhere appear to be the master 
spirits of their age." 

The English people had become so impatient of 
the misrule of Cnut's sons, that the remembrance 
of Cnut's glories was set aside for the time being, 
and no more Danish kings were desired. " All folk 
chose Eadward to king," says the chronicle, and evi- 
dently the hearts of the people were turned, full of 
hope and affection, to the exiled son of ^Ethelred and 
Emma, who had been since his childhood at the 
Norman court. His murdered brother Alfred had 
been canonized by the romantic sympathy of his 
English friends ; he was remembered now as a saint- 
ly young martyr to English patriotism, and the dis- 
reputable reign of Cnut's sons had made the vir- 
tues of the ancient race of English kings very bright 
by comparison. The new king must be of English 
blood and a link with past prosperity. The son of 
Eadmund Ironside was an exile also in the distant 
court of Hungary, but Eadward, a gentle, pious man, 
was near at hand, and there were a thousand voices 
ready to shout for him even while Harthacnut lay 
unburied in the royal robes and trappings. 

There was an opposition on the part of the Danes, 
who were naturally disinclined to any such change, 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 187 

and when the formal election and consecration of the 
new king took place, some months after this popular 
vote, all Earl Godvvine's power and influence were 
brought to bear before certain important votes 
could be won. Indeed, at first Eadward himself was 
apparently hard to persuade to accept his high office. 
He seems to have been much more inclined to a 
religious life than to statesmanship, but between 
much pushing from behind in Normandy and the 
eager entreaties of his English friends, he was forced 
to make his way again across the Channel. There 
are interesting accounts, which may or may not be 
true, of his conversations with Godwine; but the 
stronger man prevailed. The very promise he made 
to uphold the new king's rights might make Eadward 
feel assured and hopeful of some stability and quiet- 
ness in his reign. England was far behind Normandy 
in social or scholarly progress ; to reign over English- 
men did not appear the most rewarding or alluring 
career to the fastidious, delicate, cloister-man. The 
rough-heartiness and red-cheeked faces of his sub- 
jects must have contrasted poorly with his Norman 
belongings, so much more refined and thoughtful, 
not to say adroit and dissembling. England was 
still divided into four parts, as Cnut had left it. 
His scheme of the four great earldoms had proved a 
bad one enough, for it had only made the nation 
weaker, and kept up continual rivalries and jealousies 
between the lords of Northumbria, Mercia, East 
Anglia, and Wessex. The northern territory was 
chiefly Danish in its traditions, and though there was 
a nominal subjection to the king, Northumbria was 



1 88 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

almost wholly independent of any over-rule. In 
Mercia, Lady Godiva and Earl Leofric were spending 
their lives and their great wealth, chiefly in further- 
ing all sorts of religious houses and gOod works of 
the churches. 

The greatest earl of all was Godwine of Wessex, 
the true leader of the English and a most brave and 
loyal man. Cnut had trusted him, and while there 
were enough jealous eyes to look at his kingly pros- 
perity, and malicious tongues ready to whisper about 
his knowledge of young Alfred's murder, or his favor 
and unrighteous advancement of his own family to 
places of power, Godwine still held the confidence 
of a great faction among the English people. His 
son Harold was earl of East Anglia, and they were 
lawful governors, between them, of the whole south- 
ern part of the kingdom. It was mainly through 
Godwine's influence that Eadward was crowned king, 
and we may look to the same cause for his marriage 
with the earl's daughter Edith, but the line of Eng- 
lish princes, of whom Godwine hoped to be ancestor, 
never appeared, for the king was childless, and soon 
made an enemy of his father-in-law. Some people 
say that Godwine did not treat his royal son with 
much respect having once put him on the throne. 
Eadward too never was able to forget the suspicion 
about Alfred's murder, so the breach between him and 
the great earl was widened year by year. Eadward was 
not the sturdy English monarch for whom his peo- 
ple had hoped ; he was Norman at heart, as a man 
might well be who had learned to speak in the for- 
eign tongue, and had made the friendships of his 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 89 

boyhood and manhood in the duke's court and cloi- 
sters. Priestcraft was dearer to him than statecraft, 
and his name of The Confessor showed what almost 
saintly renown he had won from those who were his 
friends and upholders. 

It did not suit very well that one Norman gentle- 
man after another came to London to fill some high 
official position. Eadward appeared to wish to sur- 
round himself wholly with Normans, and the whole 
aspect of the English court was changed little by 
little. The king proved his own weakness in every 
way — he was as like yEthelred the Unready as a good 
man could be like a bad one. 

Godwine grew more and more angry, and his de- 
termination to show that England could do without 
the crowds of interlopers who were having every 
thing their own way worked him disaster for a time. 
There was a party of the king's friends journeying 
homeward to Normandy, who stopped overnight in 
the city of Dover and demanded its hospitality in inso- 
lent fashion. The Dover men would not be treated 
like slaves, and a fight followed in which the French- 
men were either killed or driven out of the town. 
Eadward of course sided with his friends, and was 
very indignant ; he sent orders to Earl Godwine, who 
was governor of the region, to punish the offenders, 
but Godwine refused squarely unless the men should 
have been fairly tried and given a chance to speak 
for themselves. This ended in a serious quarrel, and 
the king gained a victory without any battle either, 
for there was a sudden shifting of public feeling in 
Eadward's favor — God wine's own men forsook him 



I90 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and were loyal to the crown, and the great earl was 
banished for conscience sake, he and all his family, 
for the king even sent away his own wife, though he 
kept all her lands and treasures, which was not so 
saint-like and unworldly as one might have expected. 
One of Godwine's sons had proved himself a very 
base and treacherous man, and the earl had shielded 
him ; this was one reason why his defence of Eng- 
lish liberty was so overlooked by his countrymen, 
but the Normans had a great triumph over this de- 
feat, and praised the pious king and told long stories 
of his austere life, his prayers, and holy life. After 
he was canonized these stories were lengthened still 
more, but while he was yet without a halo some of 
his contemporaries charge him with laziness and in- 
capacity. He certainly was lacking in kingly quali- 
ties, but he gained the respect and love of many of 
his subjects, and was no doubt as good as so 
weak a man could be. After his death Englishmen 
praised him the more because they liked William the 
Conqueror the less, and as for the Normans they 
liked anybody better than Harold, who had been a 
much more formidable opponent in his claim to the 

English crown. Mr. Freeman says : " The 

duties of secular government . . . were . . . 
always something which went against the grain. 
His natural place was not on the throne of England, 
but at the head of a Norman abbey. . . . For 
his virtues were those of a monk ; all the real man 
came out in his zeal for collecting relics, in his 
visions, in his religious exercises, in his gifts to 
churches and monasteries, in his desire to mark his 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. IOJ 

reign as its chief result, by the foundation of his 
great abbey of Saint Peter at Westminster. In a 
prince of the manly piety of Alfred things of this 
sort form only a part, a pleasing and harmonious part, 
of the general character. In Eadward they formed 
the whole man." 

The chronicler who writes most flatteringly of him 
acknowledges that he sometimes had shocking fits 
of bad temper, but that he was never betrayed into 
unbecoming language. On some occasions he was 
hardly held back by Godwine or Harold from civil 
war and massacre ; though he was conscientious within 
the limit of his intelligence, and had the art of giving 
a gracious refusal and the habit of affability and good 
manners. William of Malmesbury, the chronicler, 
tells us that he kept his royal dignity, but that he 
took no pleasure in wearing his robes of state, even 
though they were worked for him by his affectionate 
queen. Like his father, he was ever under the do- 
minion of favorites, and this was quickly enough 
discovered and played upon by Norman ecclesiastics 
and Norman and Breton gentlemen in search of ad- 
venture and aggrandizement. It makes a great 
difference whether we read the story of this time in 
English or in French records. Often the stories are 
directly opposite to each other, and only the most 
careful steps along the path keep one from wander- 
ing off one way or the other into unjust partisan- 
ship. Especially is this true of Godwine, the confes- 
sor's great contemporary. He seems, at any rate, to 
have been a man much ahead of his time in knowl- 
edge of affairs and foresight of the probable effects 



1 92 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

from the causes of his own day. His brother earls 
were jealous of hint ; the Church complained of his 
lack of generosity ; even his acknowledged eloquence 
was listened to incredulously ; and hio good govern- 
ment of his own provinces, praised though it was, did 
not gain him steady power. His good government 
made him, perhaps more than any thing else, the fore- 
most Englishman of his time, and presently we shall 
see how deep a feeling there was for him in Eng- 
land, and how much confidence and affection were 
shown in his welcome back from exile, though he 
had been allowed to go away with such sullen disap- 
proval. Godwine's wife, Gytha, was a Danish wo- 
man, which was probably a closer link with that 
faction in the northern earldom than can be clearly 
understood at this late day. Lord Lytton's novel, 
called " Harold," makes this famous household seem 
to live before our eyes, and the brief recital of its 
fortunes and conditions here cannot be more than a 
hint of the real romance and picturesqueness of the 
story. 

The absence of Godwine in Flanders — a whole- 
year's absence— had taught his countrymen what it 
was to be without him. They were sadly annoyed 
and troubled by the king's continued appointment 
of Normans to every place of high honor that fell 
vacant. Bishoprics and waste lands alike were 
pounced upon by the hangers-on at court, and castles 
were lifting their ugly walls within sight of each 
other almost, here and there in the quiet English 
fields. Even in London itself the great White 
Tower was already setting its strong foundations ; 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 93 

a citadel for the town, a fort to keep the borderers 
and Danes at bay were necessary enough to a coun- 
try, but England was being turned into another 
Normandy and Brittany, with these new houses that 
were built for war, as if every man's neighbor were 
his enemy. The square high towers were no fit 
places for men to live in who tilled the soil and 
tended their flocks and herds. There were too many 
dark dungeons provided among the foundation 
stones beside, and the English farmers whispered 
together about their new townsfolk and petty lords, 
and feared the evil days that were to come. 

The ruined Roman houses and strange tall stones of 
the Druid temples were alike thrown down and used 
to build these new castles. Men who had strayed 
as far as the Norman coasts had stories enough to 
tell ; what landmarks of oppression these same castles 
were in their own country, and how the young Duke 
William had levelled many of them to the ground in 
quarrelsome Normandy. There was no English 
word for this awesome new word — castles ! The 
free and open halls of the English thanes were a 
strange contrast to the new order of dwelling-places. 
Robert of Jumieges had been made Archbishop of 
Canterbury, and a host of his countrymen surround- 
ed the king more and more closely and threatened 
to deprive the English of their just rights. It was 
this monk Robert who had " beat into the king's 
head " that his brother ^Elfred had come to his 
death through Earl Godwine. 

It is very easy to tell the story of the Normans 
from the English side. Let us cross the Channel again 



194 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

to Rouen and see what effect the condition of Eng- 
lish affairs was having upon the young duke. It would 
not be strange if his imagination were busy with 
some idea of enlarging his horizon by a look at his 
neighbors. Eadward had no heir, they had talked 
together oftentimes, perhaps, about the possibility of 
making one noble great kingdom by the joining of 
England and Normandy. Every day more stories 
reached his ears of the wealth and fruitfulness of 
the Confessor's kingdom. 





THE BATTLE OF VAL-ES-DUNES. 

" Who stood with head erect and shining eyes, 
As if the beacon of some promised land 
Caught his strong vision, and entranced it there." 

—A. F. 



THE Viking's grandchildren had by no means lost 
their love for journeying by land or sea. As in old Nor- 
way one may still find bits of coral and rudely shaped 
precious stones set in the quaintly wrought silver 
ornaments made by the peasants, so in Normandy 
there are pieces of Spanish leather and treasures from 
the east and from the south, relics of the plundering of 
a later generation. Roger de Toesny, one of Wil- 
liam's fiercest enemies, does not become well-known 
to us until we trace out something of his history as 
a wanderer before he came to join Talvas in a well- 
planned rebellion. 

In Duke Richard the Good's time there was a 
restless spirit of adventure stirring in Norman 
hearts, and the foundations were laid of the South- 
ern kingdoms which made such a change in Europe. 
A Norman invasion of Spain came to nothing in 
comparison with those more important settlements, 
but in 1018 Roger de Toesny carried the Norman 

195 



I9 6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

arms into the Spanish peninsula. A long time be- 
fore this Richard the Fearless had persuaded a large 
company of his Scandinavian subjects to wander that 
way, being pagan to the heart's-core and hopelessly 
inharmonious. Roger followed them on a grand 
crusade against the infidel Saracen, and also hoped 
to gain a kingdom for himself. He was of the 
hoblest blood in Normandy, of Rolf the Ganger's 
own family, and well upheld the warlike honor of 
his house in his daring fights with the infidel. Al- 
most unbelievable stories are told of his cannibal- 
like savagery with his captives, but the very same 
stories are told of another man, so we will not stop to 
moralize upon Roger's wickedness. He married the 
Spanish countess of Barcelona, who did homage to 
the king of France, and every thing looked prosper- 
ous at one time for his dominion, but it never really 
took root after all, and de Toesny went back again 
to Normandy, and blazed out instantly with tremen- 
dous wrath at the pretentions of William the Bastard. 
He could not believe that the proud Norman barons 
and knights would ever submit to such a degradation. 
De Talvas was only too glad to greet so sympa- 
thetic an ally, and the opposition to the young duke 
took a more formidable shape than ever before. 

All through William's earliest years the feudal 
lords spent most of their strength in quarrelling with 
each other, but de Toesny's appearance gave the 
signal for a league against the ruler whom they de- 
spised. William was no longer a child, and rumors 
of his premature sagacity, and his uncommon strength 
and quickness in war, were flying about from town 



THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 197 

to town and warned his enemies that they had no time 
to lose if they meant to crush him down. He was a 
noble-looking lad and had shown a natural pref- 
erence for a soldier's life ; at fifteen he had demand 
ed to be made a knight of the old Norman tradi- 
tion in which lurked a memory of Scandinavian cere- 
monies. None save Duke William could bend Duke 
William's bow, and while these glowing accounts 
of him were written from a later standpoint, and his 
story might easily be read backward, as a fulfilment 
of prophecy, we can be sure, at least, that his power 
asserted itself in a marked way, and that he soon 
gained importance and mustered a respectable com- 
pany of followers as the beginning of a brilliant and 
almost irresistible court and army. Even King 
Henry of France was jealous of his vassal's rising 
fame and popularity, and felt obliged to pay William 
a deference that his years did not merit. All 
through the first twelve years men felt that the boy 
William's life was in danger, and that, whatever re- 
spect Henry paid him, was likely to be changed to 
open animosity and disdain the moment that there 
was a good excuse. We have a glimpse now and 
then of the lonely lad at his sport in the forest about 
Falaise and Valognes, where he set apart preserves 
for hunting. We follow him from Alan of Brittany's 
wardship, to the guardian he chose himself, who held 
the place of tutor with that of captain-general of the 
Norman army, but, guardian or no guardian, he 
pushed forward single-handed, and mastered others, 
beside himself, in a way that the world never will 
cease to wonder at. 



I98 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Roger de Toesny refused allegiance to begin with, 
and with loud expressions of his scorn of the Bas- 
tard, began to lay waste his neighbors' lands as if 
they, too, had been Saracens and merited any sort 
of punishment. We first hear the name of De Beau- 
mont, famous enough ever since, in an account of a 
battle which some of Roger's outraged victims waged 
against him. Grantmesnil, too, is a name that we 
shall know very well by and by, when William has 
gone over to England with his Norman lords. Nor- 
mandy never got over its excitement and apparent 
astonishment at William's presence and claims ; but 
even in his boyhood he was the leader of a party. 
" So lively and spirited was he, that it seemed to all 
a marvel," says one of the old chroniclers, with 
enthusiasm. When he began to take deep interest 
in his affairs, the news of revolts and disorderliness 
in the country moved him to violent fits of irritation, 
but he soon learned to hide these instinctively, and 
the chronicle goes on to say that he " had welling up 
in his child's heart all the vigor of a man to teacn 
the Normans to forbear from all acts of irregularity." 
In this outbreak against de Toesny he found an irre- 
sistible temptation to assert his mastery, and boy as 
he was, he really made himself felt ; De Toesny was 
killed in the fierce little battle, and his death gave a 
temporary relief from such uprisings ; but William 
comes more and more to the front, and all Normandy 
takes sides either for or against him. This was no 
insignificant pretender, but one to be feared ; his 
guardians and faithful men who had held to him for 
good or bad reasons, were mostly put out of the way 



THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 1 99 

by their enemies, and there was nobody at last who 
could lead the Bastard's men to battle better than he 
could himself. 

Henry of France had been biding his time, and 
now Guy of Burgundy, the son of William's cousin, 
whom he had welcomed kindly at his feudal court, 
puts in a claim to the dukedom of Normandy. He 
helped forward a conspiracy, and one night, while 
William was living in his favorite castle at Valognes, 
the jester came knocking with his bauble, and crying 
at the chamber door, begging him to fly for his life : 
" They are already armed; they are getting ready; 
to delay is death ! " cried poor Golet the fool ; and 
his master leaped out of bed, seized his clothes, and 
ran to the stables for his horse. Presently he was 
galloping away toward Falaise for dear life, and to 
this day the road he took is called the Duke's road. 
This was in 1044, and William was nineteen years 
old. He was not slow to understand that the rebels 
had again risen, and that the conspiracy was more 
than a conspiracy; it was a determined insurrection. 
All the night long, as he rode across the country in 
the bright moonlight, he was thinking about his 
plans, no doubt, and great energies and determina- 
tions were suddenly waked in his heart. This was 
more than a dislike of himself and the tan-yard in- 
heritance ; it was the old rivalry of the Frenchmen 
and Northmen. The old question of supremacy and 
race prejudice was to be fought over once more and 
for the last time with any sort of distinctness. This 
was not the petty animosity of one baron or another ; 
it was almost the whole nobility of Normandy against 
their duke. 



200 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

There was one episode of the duke's journey which 
is worth telling: He had ridden for dear life, and 
had forded many a stream, and one, more dangerous, 
tide inlet where the rivers Oune and Vire flowed out 
to sea ; and when he got safe across, he went into 
the Church of St. Clement, in the Bayeux district, 
to kneel down and say his prayers. 

As the sun rose, he came close to the church and 
castle of Rye, and the Lord of Rye was standing at 
the castle gate in the clear morning air. William 
spurred his horse, and was for hurrying by, but this 
faithful vassal, whose name was Hubert, knew him, 
and stopped him, and begged to be told the reason 
of such a headlong journey. The Lord of Rye was 
very hospitable, and the tired duke dismounted, and 
was made welcome in the house ; and presently a 
fresh horse was brought out for him, and the three 
brave sons of the loyal house were mounted also to 
ride by his side to Falaise. This hospitality was not 
forgotten. Later, in England, their grateful guest 
set them in high places, and favored them in princely 
fashion. Guy, of Burgundy had been brought up 
with William as a friend and kinsman, and had been 
treated with great generosity. He was master of 
some great estates, and one of these was a powerful 
border fortress between Normandy and France. His 
friends were many, and he found listeners enough 
to his propositions. Born of the princely houses of 
Burgundy and Normandy, he claimed the duchy as 
his inherited right ; and while so many in court and 
camp were ashamed of their lawful leader, and ready 
to deny his authority, came Guy's opportunity. 



THE BATTLE OF THE VA L-E-S-DUNES. 201 

William was cautious, and not without experience. 
When he was only a baby he had caught at the straw 
on which he lay, and would not let go his hold, and 
this sign of his future power and persistence had been 
proved a true one. The quarrelsome, lawless lords 
felt that their days of liberty for themselves, and 
oppression of everybody else, would soon be over if 
they did not strike quickly. They dreaded so strong 
and stern a master, and rallied to the standard of 
the Bastard's rival, Guy of Burgundy. 

There were some of the first nobles of the Coten- 
tin who forsook their young duke for this rival who 
was hardly Norman at all, as they usually decided 
such points. His Norman descent was on the spin- 
dle side rather than the sword, to use the old dis- 
tinction, and his mother's ancestors would not have 
prevented him in other days from being called al- 
most a Frenchman. There is a tradition that Guy 
promised to divide the lands of Normandy with his 
allies, keeping only the old French grant to Rolf for 
himself, and this must have been the cause of the 
treason of the descendants of Rolf's and William 
Longsword's loyal colonists. It would amaze us to 
see the change in the life and surroundings of the 
feudal lords even in the years of William's minority. 
The leader of the barons in the revolt was the 
Viscount of Coutances, the son of that chief who had 
defeated ^Ethelred of England and his host nearly 
half a century before. He lived in a castle on the 
river Oune, near which he afterward built his great 
St. Saviour's Abbey. This was the central point of 
the insurrection, and from his tower Neal of St. Sa- 



202 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

viour could take a wide survey of his beautiful 
Cotentin country with its plough-land and pastures 
and forests, the great minster of Lessay, and the 
cliffs and marshes ; the sturdy castles of his feudal 
lords scattered far and wide. There came to Saint 
Saviour's also Randolf of Bayeux, and Hamon of 
Thorigny and of Creuilly, and Grimbald of Plessis, 
and each of them made his fortress ready for a siege, 
and swore to defend Guy of Burgundy and to use 
every art of war and even treachery to subdue and 
disgrace William. I say " even treachery," but that 
was the first resort of these insurgents rather than 
the last. They had laid the deep plot to seize and 
murder him at Valognes, and Grimbald was to have 
struck the blow. 

King Henry of France was another enemy at 
heart. It is difficult at first to understand his course 
toward his young neighbor. He never had fairly 
acknowledged him, and William on his part had 
never put his hands into the king's and announced 
with the loyal homage of his ancestors that he was 
Henry's man. While Normandy was masterless in 
William's youth, there was a good chance, never 
likely to come again in one man's lifetime, for the 
king to assert his authority and to seize at least part 
of the Norman territory. The discontent with the 
base-born heir to the dukedom might not have been 
enough by itself to warrant such usurpation, but 
then, while the feudal lords were in such turmoil 
and so taken up with, for the most part, merely 
neighborhood quarrels ; while they had so little na- 
tional and such fierce sectional feeling, would have 



THE BATTLE OE THE VAL-fcS-DUNES. 203 

been the time for an outsider to enrich himself at 
their expense. It was not yet time for Normandy 
to be provoked into a closer unification by any out- 
side danger. The French and Scandinavian factions 
were still distinct and suspicious of each other, but 
it was already too late when King Henry at last, 
without note or warning, poured his soldiers across 
the Norman boundary and invaded the Evrecin ; too 
late indeed in view of what followed, and in spite 
of the temporary blazing up of new jealousies 
and the revival of old grievances and hatreds. 
Henry won a victory and triumph for the time 
being ; he demanded the famous border castle of 
Tillieres and insisted that it should be destroyed, 
and though the brave commander held out for 
some time even against William's orders, he finally 
surrendered. Henry placed a strong garrison there 
at once, and after getting an apparently strong hold 
on Normandy there followed a time of peace. The 
king seemed to be satisfied, but no doubt the young 
duke's mind was busy enough with a forced survey 
of his enemies, already declared or still masked by 
hypocrisy, and of his own possible and probable re- 
sources. A readiness to do the things that must be 
done was making a true man of Duke William even 
in his boyhood. For many years he had seen revolt 
and violence grow more easy and more frequent in 
his dukedom ; the noise of quarrels and fighting 
grew louder and louder. In his first great battle at 
Val-es-dunes the rule of the Cotentin lords and Guy 
of Burgundy, or the rule of William the Bastard, 
struggled for the mastery. 



204 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

It was a great battle in importance rather than in 
numbers. William called to his loyal provinces for 
help, and the knights came riding to court from the 
romance-side of Normandy, while from the Bessin 
and the Cotentin the rebels came down to meet 
them. It seems strange that, when William repre- 
sents to us the ideal descendant of the Northmen, 
the Scandinavian element in his dukedom was the 
first to oppose him. For once King Henry stood 
by his vassal, and "when William asked for help in 
that most critical time, it was not withheld. Henry 
had not been ashamed to take part with the Norman 
traitors in past times, and now that there was a 
chance of breaking the ducal government in pieces 
and adding a great district to France, we are more 
than ever puzzled to know why he did not make the 
most of the occasion. Perhaps he felt that the rule 
of the dukes was better than the rule of the mutinous 
barons of the Cotentin, and likely, on the whole, to 
prove less dangerous. So when William claimed 
protection, it was readily granted, and the king came 
to his aid at the head of a body of troops, and helped 
to win the victory. 

We hear nothing of the Norman archers yet in the 
chronicler's story of the fight. They were famous 
enough afterward, but this battle was between 
mounted knights, a true battle of chivalry. The 
place was near the river Orne, and the long slopes of 
the low hills stretched far and wide, covered with 
soft turf, like the English downs across the Channel, 
lying pleasantly toward the sun. Master Wace 
writes the story of the day in the " Roman de Rou," 



THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 205 

and sketches the battle-field with vivid touches of 
his pen. Mr. Freeman says, in a note beneath his 
own description, that he went over the ground with 
Mr. Green, his fellow-historian, for company, and 
Master Wace's book in hand for guide. In the 
" Roman de Rou " there is a hint that not only the 
peasantry, but the poorer gentlemen as well, were 
secretly on William's side, that the prejudice and 
distrust toward the feudal lords was very great, and 
that there was more confidence in a sovereign than 
in the irksome tyranny of less powerful lords. 

The barons of Saxon Bayeux and Danish Cou- 
tances were matched against the loyal burghers of 
Falaise, Romanized Rouen, and the men of the 
bishop's cities of Liseux and Evreux. King Henry 
stopped at the little village of Valmeray to hear 
mass, as he came up from the south with his fol- 
lowers, and presently the duke joined them in the 
great plain beyond. The rebels are there too ; the 
'horses will not stand in place together, they have 
caught the spirit of the encounter, and the bright 
bosses of the shields; the lances, tied with gay rib- 
bons, glitter and shine, as the long line of knights 
bends and lifts and wavers like some fluttering gay 
decoration, — some many-colored huge silken splendor 
all along the green grass. The birds fly over swiftly, 
and return as quickly, puzzled by the strange appear- 
ance of their country-side. Their nests in the grass 
are trampled under foot — the world is alive with 
men in armor, who laugh loudly and swear roundly, 
and are there for something strange, to kill each 
other if they can, rather than live, for the sake of 



206 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Normandy. Far away the green fields stretch into 
the haze, the cottages look like toys, and the sheep 
and cattle feed without fear in the pastures. Church 
towers rise gray and straight-walled into the blue 
sky. It is a great day for Normandy, and her best 
knights and gentlemen finger their sword-hilts, or 
buckle their saddle-girths, and wait impatiently for 
the battle to begin on that day of Val-es-dunes. 

Among the Cotentin lords was Ralph of Tesson, 
lord of the forest of Cinquelais and the castle of 
Harcourt-Thury. Behind him rode a hundred and 
twenty knights, well armed and gallant, who would 
follow him to the death. He had sworn on the holy 
relics of the saints at Bayeux to smite William 
wherever he met him, yet he had no ground for 
complaint against him. His heart fell when he saw 
his rightful lord face to face. A tanner's grandson, 
indeed, and a man whose father and mother had 
done him wrong ; all that was true, yet this young 
Duke William was good to look upon, and as brave a 
gentleman as any son of Rolf's, or the fearless Rich- 
ard's. Ralph Tesson (the Badger they called him), 
a man both shrewd and powerful, stood apart, and 
would not rank himself and his men with either fac- 
tion, and his knights crowded round him, to remind 
him that he had done homage once to William, and 
would fight against his natural lord. The Cotentin 
lords were dismayed and angry, they promised him 
great rewards, but nothing touched him, and he 
stood silent, a little way from the armies. The 
young duke and the king noticed him, and the six- 
score-and-six brave knights in his troop, all with their 



THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-tS-DUNES. 207 

lances raised and trimmed with their ladies' silk 
tokens. William said that they would come to his 
aid ; neither Tesson nor his men had any grudge 
against him. 

Suddenly Tesson put spurs to his horse, and came 
dashing across the open field, and all the lords and 
gentlemen held their breath as they watched him. 
"Thury! Thury!" he shouted as he came, and 
"Thury! Thury !" the cry echoed back again from 
the distance. He rode straight to the duke ; there 
was a murmur from the Cotentin men ; he struck the 
duke gently with his glove. It was but a playful 
mockery of his vow to the saints at Bayeux ; he had 
struck William, but he and his knights were Wil- 
liam's men again ; the young duke said, " Thanks to 
thee ! " and the fight began, all the hotter for the an- 
ger of the deserted barons and their desire for re- 
venge. The day had begun with a bad omen for 
their success. " Dexaide ! " the old Norman war-cry, 
rang out, and those who had followed the lilies of 
France cried " Montjoie Saint Denis ! " as they 
fought. 

Nowadays, a soldier is a soldier, and men who 
choose other professions can keep to them, unless in 
their country's extremity of danger, but in that day 
every man must go to the wars, if there were need 
of him, and be surgeon or lawyer, and soldier too ; 
yes, even the priests and bishops put on their swords 
and went out to fight. It would be interesting to 
know more names on the roll-call that day at Val-es- 
dunes, but we can almost hear the shouts to the 
patron saints, and the clash of the armor. King 



208 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Henry fought like a brave man, and the storm ol 
the battle raged fiercest round him. The knights 
broke their lances, and fought sword to sword, 
There was no play of army tactics and manoeuvring, 
but a hand to-hand fight, with the sheer strength ol 
horse and man. Once King Henry was overthrown 
by the thrust of a Cotentin lance, and sprang up 
quickly to show himself to his men. Again he was 
in the thickest of the encounter, and was met by 
one of the three great rebel chiefs and thrown upon 
the ground, but this Lord of Thorigny was struck, in 
his turn, by a loyal French knight, and presently his 
lamenting followers carried him away dead on his 
shield like any Spartan of old. And the king hon- 
ored his valor and commanded that he should be 
buried with splendid ceremonies in a church not far 
from the battlefield. Long afterward the Norman 
men and women loved to sing and to tell stories 
about the young Duke William's bravery and noble 
deeds of arms in that first great fight that made him 
duke from one end of Normandy to the other. He 
slew with his own hand the noblest and most daring 
warrior of Bayeux. Master Wace, the chronicler, 
tells us how William drove the sharp steel straight 
through his hardy foe, and how the body fell be- 
neath his stroke and its soul departed. Wace was a 
Bayeux man himself, and though he was a loyal 
songster and true to his great duke, he cannot help 
a sigh of pride and sorrow over Hardrez' fate. 

Neal of St. Saviour fought steadily and cheered his 
men eagerly as the hour went on, but Randolf of 
Bayeux felt his courage begin to fail him. Hamon 



THE BATTLE OE THE VAL-fcS-DUNES. 200, 

was dead. Their great ally, Hardrez, had been the 
flower of his own knights, and he was lying dead of 
a cruel sword-thrust there in plain sight. He lost 
sight of Neal, perhaps, for he was suddenly afraid of 
betrayal, and grieved that he had ever put his helmet 
on. There is a touching bit of description in the " Ro- 
man de Rou " just now. The battle pleased him no 
more, is told in the quaint short lines. He thought 
how sad it was to be a captive, and sadder still to be 
slain. He gave way feebly at every charge ; he 
wandered to and fro aimlessly, a thing to be stum- 
bled over, we fancy him, now in the front of the 
fight, now in the rear ; at last he dropped his lance 
and shield. " He stretched forth his neck and rode 
for his life," says Master Wace, quite ashamed of his 
countryman. But we can see the poor knight's 
head drooping low, and his good, tired horse — the 
better man of the two — mustering all his broken 
strength to carry his master beyond the reach of 
danger. All the cowards rode after him pell-mell, 
but brave Saint Saviour fought to the last and held 
the field until his right arm failed and he could not 
strike again. The French pressed him hard, the 
Norman men looked few and spent, and the mighty 
lord of the Cotentin knew that all hope was lost. 
There on the rising ground of Saint Lawrence the 
last blow was struck. 

Away went the rebels in groups of three or four — 
away for dear life every one of them, riding this way 
and that, trying to get out of reach of their enemies 
and into some sort of shelter. The duke chased 
them like a hound on the track of hares on, on tow- 



210 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ard Bayeux, past the great Abbey of Fontenay and 
the Allemagne quarries, until they reached the river 
Orne with its deep current. Men and horses floun- 
dered in the water there, and many hot wounds 
tinged it with a crimson stain. They were drawned, 
poor knights, and poor, brave horses too. 'They 
went struggling and drifting down stream ; the banks 
were strewn with the dead ; and the mill-wheels of 
Borbillon, a little farther down, were stopped in 
their slow turning by the strange wreck and floating 
worthless fragments of those lords and gentlemen 
who had lost the battle of the Val-es-dunes. 

And William was the conqueror of Normandy. 
Guy of Burgundy was a traitor to his friends, and 
won a heritage of shame for his flight from the field. 
We hear nothing of him while the fight went on, 
only that he ran away. It appears that he must have 
been one of the first to start for a place of safety, 
because they blame him so much ; there is nothing 
said about all the rebels running away together a 
little later. That was the fortune of war and in- 
evitable ; not personal cowardice, they might tell us. 
Guy of Burgundy was the man who had led the three 
Cotentin lords out by fair promises and taunts about 
their bastard duke, and he should have been brave 
and full of prowess, since he undertook to be the 
rival of so brave a man. He did not go toward the 
banks of the fateful river, but in quite another 
direction to his own castle of Brionne, and a troop 
of his vassals escaped with him and defended them- 
selves there for a long time, until William fairly 
starved them out like rats in a hole. They held 



THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 2ll 

their own bravely, too, and no man was put to death 
when they surrendered, while Guy was even allowed 
to come back to court. Master Wace stoutly main- 
tains that they should have been hung, and says long 
afterward that some of those high in favor at court 
were the traitors of the great rebellion. 

Strange to say, nobody was put to death. Mr. 
Freeman says of this something that gives us such 
a clear look at William's character that I must copy 
it entire. " In those days, both in Normandy and 
elsewhere, the legal execution of a state criminal 
was an event that seldom happened. Men's lives 
were recklessly wasted in the endless warfare of the 
times, and there were men, as we have seen, who 
did not shrink from private murder, even in its basest 
forms. But the formal hanging or beheading of a 
noble prisoner, so common in later times, was, in the 
eleventh century, a most unusual sight. And, strange 
as it may sound, there was a sense in which William 
the Conqueror was not a man of blood. He would 
sacrifice any number of lives to his boundless ambi- 
tion ; he did not scruple to condemn his enemies to 
cruel personal mutilations ; he would keep men for 
years as a mere measure of security, in the horrible 
prison-houses of those days ; but the extinction of 
human life in cold blood was something from which 
he shrank." 

At the time of the first great victory, the historian 
goes on to say, William was of an age when men 
are commonly disposed to be generous, and the 
worst points of his character had not begun to show 
themselves. Later in life, when he had broken the 



212 THE STORY OF THE JV OR MANS. 

rule, or perhaps we must call it only his prejudice 
and superstition, we find that the star of his glory is 
already going down, pale and spent, into the mists of 
shame and disappointment. 

None of the traitors of the Val-es-dunes were 
treated harshly, according to the standard of the 
times. The barons paid fines and gave mortgages, 
and a great many of them were obliged to tear down 
their robber castles, which they had built without 
permission from the duke. This is the reason that 
there are so few ruins in Normandy of the towers of 
that date. The Master of St. Saviour's was obliged 
to take himself off to Brittany, but there was evi- 
dently no confiscation of his great estates, for we find 
him back again at court the very next year, high in 
the duke's favor and holding an honorable position. 
He lived forty-four years after this, an uncommon 
lifetime for a Norman knight, and followed the Con- 
queror to England, but he got no reward in lands 
and honor, as so many of his comrades did. Guy of 
Burgundy stayed at court a little while, and then 
went back to his native province and devoted himself 
to making plots against his brother, Count William. 
Grimbald de Plessis fared the worst of all the conspira- 
tors; he was taken to Rouen and put into prison 
weighted down with chains, and given the poorest of 
lodgings. He confessed that he had tried to murder 
William that night at Valognes, when the court 
jester gave warning, and said that a knight called 
Salle had been his confederate. Salle denied the 
charge stoutly and challenged De Plessis to fight a 
judicial combat, but before the day came the schem- 



THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-ES-DUNES. 213 

ing, unlucky baron from the Saxon lands was found 
dead in his dungeon. The fetters had ground their 
way into his very bones, and he was buried in his 
chains, for a warning, while his estates were seized 
and part of them given to the church of Bayeux. 

Now, at last, the Norman priests and knights knew 
that they had a master. For some time it was sur- 
prisingly quiet in Normandy, and the country was 
unexpectedly prosperous. The great duchy stood 
in a higher rank among her sister kingdoms than 
ever before, and though there was another revolt 
and serious attacks from envious neighbors, yet the 
Saxons of the Bessin and the Danes of the Cotentin 
were overthrown, and Normandy was more unitedly 
Norman-French than ever. There had been a long 
struggle that had lasted from Richard the Fearless' 
boyhood until now, but it was ended at last, to all 
intents and purposes. Even now there is a differ- 
ence between the two parts of Normandy, though so 
many years have passed ; but the day was not far 
off after this battle of Val-es-dunes when the young 
conqueror could muster a great army and cross the 
channel into England. " The Count of Rouen," 
says Freeman, " had overcome Saxons and Danes 
within his own dominions, and he was about to weld 
them into his most trusty weapons, wherewith to 
overcome Saxons and Danes beyond the sea." 

Perhaps nothing will show the barbarous cruelty of 
these times or William's fierce temper better than the 
story of Alengon and its punishment. William Tal- 
vas, the young duke's old enemy, formed a rebellious 
league with Geoffry of Anjou, and they undertook 



214 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

to hold Alencon against the Normans. When Wil- 
liam came within sight of the city, he discovered 
that they had sufficient self-confidence to mock at 
him and insult him. They even spread raw skins 
over the edge of the city walls, and beat them vigor- 
ously, yelling that there was plenty of work for the 
tanner, and giving even plainer hints at what they 
thought of his mother's ancestry. 

William was naturally put into a great rage, and 
set himself and his army down before the walls his 
enemies thought so invincible. He swore " by the 
splendor of God " that he would treat them as a man 
lops a tree with an axe, and, sure enough, when the 
siege was over, and Alencon was at the Conqueror's 
mercy, he demanded thirty-two captives of war, and 
nose, hands, and feet were chopped off, and present- 
ly thrown back over the walls into the town. 



i£^ 





XL 

THE ABBEY OF BEC. 

" He heard across the howling seas, 
Chime convent bells on wintry nights." 

— Matthew Arnold. 

The only way of escaping from the obligations of 
feudalism and constant warfare was by forsaking the 
follies of the world altogether for the shelter of a 
convent, and there devoting one's time and thought 
to holy things. A monastic life often came to be 
only an excuse for devotion to art or to letters, or 
served merely to cover the distaste for military pur- 
suits. It was not alone ecclesiasticism and a love 
for holy living and thoughts of heaven that inspired 
rigid seclusion and monkish scorn of worldliness. 
Not only popular superstition or recognition of true 
spiritual life and growth of the Church made up the 
Church's power, but the presence of so much secu- 
lar thought and wisdom in the fold. Men of letters, 
of science, and philosophy made it often more than 
a match for the militant element of society, the sol- 
diery of Normandy, and the great captains, who 
could only prove their valor by the strength of their 
strategy and their swords. William was quick to 
recognize the vast strength of the clergy and the 

215 



2l6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

well-protected force of cloistered public opinion. A 
soldier and worldly man himself, he arrayed himself 
on the side of severe self-repression and knightly 
chastity and purity of life, and kept the laws of the 
convent in high honor ; while he mixed boldly with 
the rude warfare of his age. He did not think him- 
self less saintly because he was guilty of secret crimes 
against his rivals. A skilful use of what an old 
writer calls " the powder of succession " belonged as 
much to his military glory as any piece of field-tac- 
tics and strategy. He was anxious to stand well in 
the Pope's estimation, and the ban and malediction 
of the Church was something by all means to be 
avoided. The story of his marriage shows his bold, 
adventurous character and determination in a marked 
way, and his persistence in gaining his ends and win- 
ning the approval of his superior, in spite of obstacles 
that would have daunted a weaker man. To gain a 
point to which the Church objected he must show 
himself stronger than the Church. 

So there were two great forces at work in Nor- 
mandy : this military spirit, the love of excitement, 
of activity, and adventure ; and this strong religious 
feeling, which often made the other its willing serv- 
ant, and was sometimes by far the most powerful of 
the two. Whether superstition or true, devout ac- 
ceptance and unfolding of the ideas of the Christian 
religion moved the Normans and their contempora- 
ries to most active service of the Church, we will not 
stop to discuss. The presence of the best scholars 
and saints in any age is a leaven and inspiration of 
that age, and men cannot help being more or less 



THE ABBEY OF BEC. 



217 



influenced by the dwelling among them of Christ's 
true disciples and ministers. That there was a large 
amount of credulity, of superstitious rites and ob- 
servances, we cannot doubt, neither can we ques- 
tion that these exercised an amazing control over 




DOURWAY OF CATHEDRAL, CHAKTKLS. 

ignorant minds. Standing so near to a pagan ances- 
try, the people of large, and, relatively speaking, 
remote districts of Normandy, were no doubt con- 
fused by lingering vestiges of the older forms of 
belief. As yet, religion, in spite of the creeds of. 



218 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

knighthood, showed itself more plainly in stone and 
mortar, in vestments, and fasts, and penances, and 
munificent endowments, than in simple truth and 
godliness of life. A Norman nobleman, in the time 
of the Conqueror, or earlier, thought that his estate 
would lack its chief ornament if he did not plant a 
company of monks in some corner of it. It was the 
proper thing for a rich man to found a monastery or 
religious house of some sort or other, and this was a 
most blessed thing for the scholars of their time. 
The profession of letters was already becoming dig- 
nified and respectable, and the students of the Ven- 
erable Bede, and other noble teachers from both 
north and south, had already scattered good seeds 
through the states of Europe. It was in this time 
that many great schools were founded, and in the 
more peaceful years of the early reign of the Con- 
queror, religion and learning found time to strike a 
deeper root in Normandy than ever before. There 
was more wealth for them to be nourished with, 
the farms were productive, and the great centres of 
industry and manufacture, like Falaise, were thriving 
famously. It was almost as respectable to be a monk 
as to be a soldier. There is something very beauti- 
ful in these earlier brotherhoods — a purer fashion of 
thought and of life, a simplicity of devotion to the 
higher duties of existence. But we can watch here, as in 
the later movements in England and Italy, a gradual 
change from poverty and holiness of life, to a love 
of riches and a satisfaction with corrupt ceremonies 
and petty authority. The snare of worldliness finds 
its victims always, and the temptation was easy then, 



THE ABBEY OF BEC. 2IO, 

as it is easy now, to forget the things that belong to 
the spirit. We have seen so much of the sword and 
shield in this short history that we turn gladly away 
for a little space to understand what influences were 
coming from the great abbeys of Bee and Saint 
Evreuil, and to make what acquaintance we can 
with the men who dwelt there, and held for their 
weapons only their mass-books and their principles 
of education and of holy living. Lanfranc we must 
surely know, for he was called the right-hand man of 
the Conqueror ; and now let us go back a little way 
and take a quick survey of the founding of the Ab- 
bey of Bee, and trace its history, for that will help 
us to understand the monastic life, and the wave of 
monasticism that left so plain a mark upon the 
headlands and valleys of Normandy. Both in Eng- 
land and Norman France, you can find the same red- 
roofed villages clustered about high square church 
towers, with windows in the gray stone walls that 
look like dim fret-work or lace-work. The oldest 
houses are low and small, but the oldest minsters 
and parish churches are very noble buildings. 

The first entrance into one of the old cathedrals is 
an event in one's life never to be forgotten. It 
grows more beautiful the longer one thinks of it ; that 
first impression of height and space, of silence and 
meditation ; the walls are stored with echoes of 
prayers and chanting voices ; the windows are like 
faded gardens, with their sober tints and gleams of 
brighter color. The saints are pictured on them 
awkwardly enough, but the glory of heaven beams 
through the old glass upon the worn tombstones in 



220 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

the floor ; the very dust in the rays of sunlight that 
strike across the wide, solemn spaces, seems sacred 
dust, and of long continuance. We shut out this 
busy world when we go into the cathedral door, 
and look about us as if this were a waiting-room 
from whence one might easily find conveyance to 
the next world. There is a feeling of nearness to 
heaven as we walk up the great aisle of what our 
ancestors called, reverently enough, God's house. 
One is suddenly reminded of many unseen things 
that the world outside gives but little chance to 
think about. We are on the journey heavenward 
indeed. There where many centuries have worn 
away the trace of worldliness and the touch of 
builders' tools, so that the building itself seems al- 
most to have grown by its own life and strength, 
you think about the builders and planners of such 
dignity and splendor more than any thing, after all. 
Who were the men that dared to lift the roof and 
plant the tall pillars, and why did they, in those 
poor, primitive times, give all they had to make this 
one place so rich and high. The bells ring a lazy, 
sweet chime for answer, and if you catch a glimpse 
of some brown old books in the sacristy, and even 
spell out the quaint records, you are hardly satisfied. 
We can only call them splendid monuments of the 
spirit of the time (almost uncivilized, according to 
our standard) when nevertheless there was a profound 
sentiment of worship and reverence. 

Besides this, we are reminded that the lords of 
church and state were able, if it pleased them, to 
command the entire service of their vassals. All the 




ItA. ,. 



222 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

liberties and aids and perquisites that belonged to 
rank ceased where the lowest rank ended, at the 
peasant. He was at anybody's command and mercy 
who chanced to be his master ; he had but precious 
few rights and claims of his own. When Christ 
taught his disciples that whosoever would be 
chief among them must become as a servant, he 
suggested a truth and order of relationship most as- 
tonishing and contrary to all precedent. He that 
would be chief among Hebrews or Normans, chief, 
alas, even in our own day, is still misled by the old 
idea that the greatest is the master of many men. 
Wordly power and heavenly service are always apt to 
be mistaken for each other. 

In an age when every man claimed the right of 
private war against ever)- other man, unless he were 
lord or vassal, we naturally look for ferocity, and un- 
derstand that the line between private war and sim- 
ple robbery and murder was not very clearly kept. 
Those who were comparatively unable to defend 
themselves were the chief sufferers, and of course 
many peace-loving men were obliged to take on the 
appearance of fighters, and be ready for constant 
warfare in all its shapes. There was only the one al- 
ternative — first to the universal dissension of a 
nationality of armed men, and later to the more or- 
derly and purposeful system of knighthood, — simply 
to retreat from the world altogether and lead a strictly 
religious life. The famous order of the Benedictine 
monks was built up in Normandy with surprising 
devotion. A natural love and respect for learning, 
which had long been smouldering half-neglected, 



THE ABBEY OF BEC. 223 

now burst into a quick blaze in the hearts of many 
of the descendants of the old Norse skalds and Saga- 
men. While the Augustinian order of monks is 
chiefly famous for building great cathedrals, and the 
mendicant friars have left many a noble hospital as 
their monuments, so the Benedictines turned their 
energies toward the forming of great schools. The 
time has passed when the Protestant world belittled 
itself by contemptuously calling the monks lazy, 
sensual, and idle, and by seeing no good in these an- 
cient communities. Learning of every sort, and the 
arts, as well, would have been long delayed in their 
development, if it had not been for such quiet re- 
treats, where those men and women who chose 
could turn their thoughts toward better employments 
than the secular world encouraged or even allowed. 
The Benedictines were the most careful fosterers of 
scholarship; their brethren of monastic fame owed 
them a great deal in every way. 

There was a noble knight named Herluin, who 
lived in the time of Duke Robert the Devil, and who 
was for thirty-seven years a knight-at-arms. He was 
a descendant of one of Rolf's companions, his lineage 
was of the very best, and his estates made part of 
the original grant of Charles the Simple. Herluin 
was vassal to Count Gilbert of Brionne, and had 
proved himself a brave and loyal knight, both to his 
overlord and the duke. He was high in favor, and 
unusually tender-hearted and just to those in trouble. 
We cannot help wishing that it had seemed possible 
to such a man that he should stay in the world and 
leaven society by his example, but to a thoughtful 



224 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and gentle soul like Herluin the cloister offered 
great temptations. There was still great turbulence 
even among ecclesiastics — the worst of them "bore 
arms and lived the life of heathen Danes. . . . 
The faith of Herluin nearly failed him when he saw 
the disorder of one famous monastery, but he was 
comforted by accidentally beholding the devotions 
of one godly brother, who spent the whole night in 
secret prayer. He was thus convinced that the salt 
of the earth had not as yet wholly lost its savor." * 

Our pious knight forsook the world, and with 
a few companions devoted himself to building a 
small monastery on his own estate at Burneville, 
near Brionne. The church was consecrated, and 
its founder received benediction from his bishop, 
who ordained him a priest and made him abbot 
of the little community. Herluin was very diligent 
in learning to read, and achieved this mighty 
task without neglecting any of the work which he 
imposed upon himself day by day. Soon he grew 
famous in all that part of Normandy for his sanctity 
and great wisdom in explaining the Bible. But it 
was discovered that the site of his flourishing young 
establishment was not well chosen ; an abbey must 
possess supplies of wood and water, and so the 
colony was removed to the valley of a small stream 
that flows into the Lisle, near the town of Brionne. In 
the old speech of the Normans this brook was called 
a beck; we have the word yet in verse and provincial 
speech ; and it gave a name to the most famous and 
longest remembered perhaps of all the Norman 
* Freeman. 



THE ABBEY OF BEC. 22$ 

monasteries. Mr. Freeman says: "The hills are 
still thickly wooded ; the beck still flows through 
rich meadows and under trees planted by the water- 
side, by the walls of what was once the renowned 
monastery to which it gave its name. But of the 
days of Herluin no trace remains besides these im- 
perishable works of nature. A tall tower, of rich 
and fanciful design, one of the latest works of 
mediaeval skill, still attracts the traveller from a dis- 
tance ; but of the mighty minster itself, all traces, 
save a few small fragments, have perished. 
The truest memorial of that illustrious abbey is now 
to be found in the parish church of the neighboring 
village. In that lowly shelter is still preserved the 
effigy with which after-times had marked the resting- 
place of the founder. Such are all the relics which 
now remain of the house which once owned Lanfranc 
and Anselm as its inmates. 

" In this valley it was that Herluin finally fixed his 
infant settlement, devoting to it his own small 
possession." 

" By loving this world," he said, when he pleaded 
for his poor peasants in Gilbert of Brionne's court — 
" By loving this world and by obeying man I have 
hitherto much neglected God and myself. I have 
been altogether intent on training my body, and I 
have gained no education for my soul. If I have 
ever deserved well of thee, let me pass what remains 
of life in a monastery. Let me keep thy affection 
and with me give to God what I had of thee." 

Herluin was not left alone in his enterprise ; one 
companion after another joined him, and presently 



226 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

there was a busy company of monks at Bee. They 
subjected themselves to all sorts of self-denials and 
privations, working hard at building their new home, 
at ditching, gardening, or wood-cutting, and chant- 
ing their prayers with entire devotion. Herluin 
allowed himself one scanty meal a day, and went 
about his work poorly dressed, but serving God in 
most humble fashion. This was the story of many 
small religious houses and their founders, but we 
cannot help tracing the beginning of the abbey of 
Bee with particular interest for the sake of Lanfranc, 
who has kept its memory alive and made it famous 
in Norman and English history. 

The story of this friar of Bee, who came to be 
archbishop of Canterbury, and whose influence and 
power were only second, a few years later, to 
William the Conqueror's own, reads like a romance, 
as indeed does many another story of that romantic 
age. He was born at Pavia, the City of the Hun- 
dred Towers, in Lombardy, and belonged to an 
illustrious family. He was discovered in early boy- 
hood to be an uncommon scholar, and even in his 
university course he became well known by his bril- 
liant talents and fine gift of oratory. He was looked 
upon as almost invincible in debate while he was 
still a school-boy, and when he left college it was 
supposed that he would give the benefit of his 
attainments and growth to his native city. For 
a little while he did stay there, and began his career, 
but he appears to have been made restless by a love 
of change and adventure, and a desire to see the 
world, and next we find him going northward with a 



THE ABBEY OF BEC. 227 

company of admiring scholars, as if on pilgrimage, 
but in the wrong direction ! The enthusiastic little 
procession crossed the St. Bernard pass into France 
and for some reason went to Avranches, where Lan- 
franc taught a school and quickly became celebrated. 
In spite of the more common profession or trade of 
righting, there was never a time when learning or the 
profession of letters was more honored, and the 
Normans yielded to none of their contemporaries in 
the respect they had for scholars. 

Lanfranc became dissatisfied with the honor and 
glory of his success at Avranches ; and presently, in 
quest of something more deep and satisfying — more 
in accordance with the craving of his spiritual nature, 
left his flourishing school and again started north- 
ward. The country was very wild and unsafe for 
a solitary wayfarer ; and presently, so the tradition 
runs, he was attacked by a band of robbers, beaten, 
and left tied to a tree without food or money or any 
prospect of immediate release. The long hours of 
the night wore away and he grew more and more 
desperate ; at last he bethought himself of spiritual 
aid as a last resort, and tried to repeat the service 
of the church. Alas ! he could not remember the 
prayers and hymns, and in his despair he vowed 
a pious vow to God that he would devote himself to 
a holy life if his present sufferings might be ended. 
In good season some charcoal burners played the 
welcome part of deliverers and Lanfranc, yet aching 
with the pinch of his fetters and their galling knots, 
begged to know of some holy house near by, and 
was directed to Herluin's hermitage and the humble 
brotherhood of Bee. 



228 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

The little colony of holy men was all astir that 
day. Soldiers and sober gentlemen were tilling the 
soil and patiently furthering their rural tasks. Her- 
luin himself, the former knight-at-arms, was clad in 
simple monkish garb, and playing the part of master- 
mason in the building of a new oven. Out from the 
neighboring thicket comes a strange figure, pale yet 
from his uncomforted vigil, and prays to be numbered 
with those who give their lives to the service of 
God. " This is surely a Lombard ! " says Herluin, 
wonderstruck and filled with sympathy ; and when 
he discovers the new brother's name and eager 
devotion, he kneels before him in love and rever- 
ence. It was a great day for the abbey of Bee. 

Such learning and ability to teach as Lanfranc's 
could not be hidden ; indeed the church believed in 
using a man's great gifts, and each member was bound 
to give of his bounty in her service. The brothers 
who could till the ground and hew timber and build 
ovens kept at their tasks, and all the while Lanfranc, 
the theologian and teacher, the man of letters, 
gathered a company of scholars from far and wide. 
Bee became a famous centre of learning, and even 
from Italy and Greece young men journeyed to his 
school, and, as years went by, he was venerated more 
and more. His quick understanding and cleverness 
saved him many a disaster, and we recognize in him 
a charming inheritance of wit and good humor. He 
had the individuality and characteristics of his Italian 
ancestry, while he was that rare man in any social 
circle of his age, or even a later age, — a true man of 
the world. A Norman of the Normans in his adopted 



THE ABBEY OF BEC. 220, 

home, he was yet able to see Normandy, not as the 
world itself, but only a factor in it, and to put it and 
its ambitions and possessions in their true relation to 
wider issues. There was no such churchman-states- 
man as Lanfranc in the young duchy, and his fame 
and glory were felt more and more. William the 
duke himself might well set his wits at work to 
conquer this formidable opponent of his marriage, 
and win him over to his following, and the first attack 
was not by conciliatory measures. Lanfranc received 
a formidable order to quit the country and leave his 
abbey of Bee on penalty of worse punishment. 

The future archbishop of English Canterbury 
meekly obeyed his temporal lord, and set out through 
the forest with a pitiful straggling escort affectingly 
futile in its appearance. He himself was mounted 
on the worst old stumbling horse in the despoiled 
abbey stables, and presently they meet the duke out 
hunting in most gallant array with a lordly follow- 
ing of knights and gentlemen. It looks surprisingly 
as if shrewd Lanfranc had arranged the scene before- 
hand. Along he comes on his feeble steed, limping 
slowly on the forest path ; he, the greatest prior and 
book-man of Normandy, turned out of the house and 
home that his own learning had made famous through 
Christendom. " Under Lanfranc," says the chron- 
icler, " the Normans first fathomed the art of letters, 
for under the six dukes of Normandy scarce any one 
among the Normans applied himself to liberal 
studies, nor was there any learning found till God, 
the provider of all things, brought Lanfranc to Nor- 
mandy." All this, no doubt, flashed through Wil- 



230 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Ham's mind, and the prior of Bee's Italian good- 
humor proved itself the best of weapons. " Give me 
a better horse," he cried, " and you shall see me go 
away faster." The duke laughed in spite of himself, 
and Lanfranc won a a chance of pleading his cause. 
Before they parted they were sworn friends, and the 
prior's knowledge of civil law and of theology and of 
human nature (not least by any means of his famous 
gifts) were for once and all at the duke's service. He 
supported the cause of the unlawful marriage, and 
even won a dispensation from the Pope, long desired 
and almost hopeless, in William's favor. 

But the abbey of Bee was a great power for good 
in its time, and carried a wonderful influence for 
many years. In the general scarcity of books in 
those days before printing, the best way of learning 
was to listen to what each great scholar had to say, 
and the students went about from school to school, 
and lingered longest at places like Bee, where the 
best was to be found. The men here were not only 
the patrons of learning and the guarders of their 
own copies of the ancient classics, but they taught the 
children of the neighborhood, and sheltered the rich 
and poor, the old people and the travellers, who wan- 
dered to their gates. They copied missals, they cast 
bells for churches, they were the best of farmers, 
of musicians, of artists. While Lanfranc waged his 
great battle with Berengarius about the doctrine of 
the Eucharist, and came out a victorious champion 
for the church, and won William's cause with the 
Pope with most skilful pleading of the value of Nor- 
man loyalty to the See of Rome, his humbler brethren 



THE ABBEY OF BEC. 23 I 

tended their bees and ploughed straight furrows and 
taught the country children their letters. Such a 
centre of learning and of useful industry as Bee was 
the best flower of civilization. Lanfranc himself 
was true to his vow of humility. We catch some 
delightful glimpses of his simple life, and one in par- 
ticular of his being met on a journey by some rever- 
ential pilgrims to his school. He was carefully car- 
rying a cat behind him on the saddle, comfortably 
restrained from using her claws, and Lanfranc ex- 
plained that he had sometimes been grievously an- 
noyed by mice at his destination, and had provided 
this practical ally. One can almost see the twinkle 
in the good man's eyes, and the faces of the sur- 
prised scholars who had been looking forward with 
awe and dread to their first encounter with so re- 
nowned a man. 




XII. 

MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 

" It had been easy fighting in some plain, 
Where victory might hang in equal choice ; 
But all resistance against her is vain." 

— Marvell. 

We have occasionally had a glimpse of Flanders 
and its leading men in the course of our Norman 
story ; but now the two dukedoms were to be linked 
together by a closer tie than either neighborhood, 
or a brotherhood, or antagonism in military affairs. 
While Normandy had been gaining new territory 
and making itself more and more feared by the 
power of its armies, and had been growing richer and 
richer with its farms and the various industries of the 
towns, Flanders was always keeping pace, if not 
leading, in worldly prosperity. 

Flanders had gained the dignity and opulence of a 
kingdom. Her people were busy, strong, intelligent 
craftsmen and artists, and while her bell-towers 
lifted themselves high in the air, and made their 
chimes heard far and wide across the level country, 
the weavers' looms and the women's clever fingers 
were sending tapestries to the walls of the Vatican, 
and frost-like laces to the ladies of Spain. 

232 



Matilda of flanders. 233 

The heavy ships of Flanders went and came with 
the richest of freights from her crowded ports; her 
picture-painters were at work, her gardens were green, 
and her noblemen's houses were filled with whatever 
a luxurious life could demand or invent. As the 
country became overcrowded, many of the inhabi- 
tants crossed over to Scotland, and gained a foot- 
hold, sometimes by the sword, and oftener by the 
plough and spade and weaver's shuttle. The Doug- 
lases and the Leslies, Robert Bruce and all the fam- 
ilies of Flemings, took root then, and, whether by art 
or trade, established a right to be called Scotsmen, 
and to march in the front rank when the story is 
told of many a brave day in Scottish history. 

The Count of Flanders was nominally vassal of 
both Rome and France, but he was practically his 
own man. Baldwin de Lisle, of the Conqueror's 
time, was too great a man to need anybody's help, 
or to be bought or sold at will by an over-lord. He 
stood well as the representative of his country's 
wealth and dignity. A firm alliance with such a 
neighbor was naturally coveted by such a far-seeing 
man as the young duke ; and besides any political 
reasons, there was a closer reason still, in the love that 
had sprung up in his heart for Matilda, the count's 
daughter. In 1049, ne ^ ac ^ Deen already making suit 
for her hand, for it was in that year when the Coun- 
cil of Rheims forbade the banns, on some plea of rela- 
tionship that was within the limit set by the Church. 
William's whole existence was a fight for his life, for 
his dukedom, for his kingdom of England, and he 
was not wanting in courage in this long siege of 



234 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

church and state, when the woman he truly loved 
was the desired prize. If history can be trusted, she 
was a prize worth winning ; if William had not loved 
her, he would not have schemed and persisted for 
years in trying to win her in spite of countless hin- 
drances which might well have ended his quest if he 
had been guided only by political reasons for the 
alliance. 

His nobles had eagerly urged him to marry. Per- 
haps they would have turned their eyes toward Eng- 
land first if there had been a royal princess of Ead- 
ward's house, but failing this, Flanders was the best 
prize. The Norman dukedom must not be left with- 
out an heir, and this time there must be no question 
of the honesty of the heir's claim and right to succes- 
sion. Normandy had seen enough division and dis- 
sension, and angry partisanship during the duke's 
own youth, and now that he had reached the age of 
twenty-four, and had made himself master of his pos- 
sessions, and could take his stand among his royal 
neighbors, everybody clamored for his marriage, and 
for a Lady of Normandy. He was a pure man in 
that time of folly and licentiousness. He was al- 
ready recognized as a great man, and even the daugh- 
ter of Baldwin of Flanders might be proud to marry 
him. 

Matilda was near the duke's own age, but she had 
already been married to a Flemish official, and had 
two children. She was a beautiful, graceful woman, 
and it is impossible to believe some well-known old 
stories of William's rude courtship of her, since her 
father evidently was ready to favor the marriage, and 



MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 235 

she seems to have been a most loyal and devoted 
wife to her husband, and to have been ready enough 
to marry him hastily at the end of a most trouble- 
some courtship. The great Council of Rheims had 
forbidden their marriage, as we have already seen, 
and the pious Pope Leo had struck blows right and 
left among high offenders of the Church's laws ; a 
whole troop of princes were excommunicated or put 
under heavy penances, and the Church's own officials 
were dealt justly with accordingto their sins. When 
most of these lesser contemporaries were properly 
sentenced, a decree followed, which touched two 
more illustrious men : the Count of Flanders was 
forbidden to give his daughter to the Norman duke 
for a wife, and William, in his turn, was forbidden to 
take her. For four long years the lovers — if we may 
believe them to be lovers — were kept apart on the 
Pope's plea of consanguinity. There is no evidence 
remaining that this was just, yet there truly may 
have been some relationship. It is much easier to 
believe it, at any rate, than that the count's wife 
Adela's former child-marriage to William's uncle 
could have been put forward as any sort of objec- 
tion. 

We must leave for another chapter the affairs of 
Normandy and William's own deeds during the four 
years, and go forward with this story of his marriage 
to a later time, when in the course of Italian affairs, 
a chance was given to bring the long courtship to a 
happy end. Strangely enough this came by means 
of the De Hautevilles and that Norman colony whose 
fortunes we have already briefly traced. In the con- 



2$6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

flict with Pope Leo, when he was forced to yield to 
the Normans' power and to recognize them as a 
loyal state, William either won a consent to his wed- 
ding or else dared to brave the Pope's disapproval. 
While Leo was still in subjection the eager duke 
hurried to his city of Eu, near the Flemish border, 
and met there Count Baldwin and his daughter. 
There was no time spent in splendid processions 
and triumphal pageants of the Flemish craftsmen ; 
some minor priest gave the blessing, and as the duke 
and his hardly-won wife came back to the Norman 
capital there was a great cheering and rejoicing all 
the way ; and the journey was made as stately and 
pompous as heart could wish. There was a magnifi- 
cent welcome at Rolf's old city of Rouen ; it was 
many years since there had been a noble lady, a 
true duchess, on the ducal throne of Normandy. 

But the spirit of ecclesiasticism held its head too 
high in the pirates' land to brook such disregard of 
its canons, even on the part of its chief ruler. There 
was an uncle of William's, named Mauger, who was 
primate of the Norman church. He is called on 
every hand a very bad man — at any rate, his faults 
were just the opposite of William's, and of a sensual 
and worldly stamp. He was not a fit man for the 
leader of the clergy, in William's opinion. Yet Mau- 
ger was zealous in doing at least some of the duties 
of his office — he did not flinch from rebuking his 
nephew ! All the stories of his life are of the worst 
sort, unless we give him the credit of trying to do 
right in this case, but we can too easily remember 
the hatred that he and all his family bore toward the 



MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 237 

bastard duke in his boyhood, and suspect at least 
that jealousy may have taken the place of scorn and 
despising. One learns to fear making point-blank 
decisions about the character of a man so long dead, 
even of one whom everybody blamed like Mauger. 
His biographers may have been his personal enemies, 
and later writers have ignorantly perpetuated an un- 
just hue and cry. 

Perhaps Lanfranc may be trusted better, for he too 
blamed the duke for breaking a holy law, — Lanfranc 
the merry, wise Italian, who loved his fellow-men, 
and who was a teacher by choice and by gift of God. 
All Normandy was laid under a ban at this time for 
the wrong its master had done. Lanfranc rebuked 
the assumed sinner bravely, and William's fierce stern 
temper blazed out against him, and ordered a vicious 
revenge of the insult to him and to his wife. The 
just William, who kept Normandy in such good 
order, who stood like a bulwark of hewn stone be- 
tween his country and her enemies, was the same 
William who could toss severed hands and feet over 
the Alengon wall, and give orders to burn the grain 
stacks and household goods of the abbey of Bee. 
We have seen how the duke and the abbot met, and 
how they became friends again, and Lanfranc made 
peace with Pope Leo and won him the loyalty of 
Normandy in return. Very likely Lanfranc was glad 
to explain the truth and to be relieved from uphold- 
ing such a flimsy structure as the church's honor 
demanded. At any rate, William gladly paid his 
Peter's pence and set about building his great abbey 
of St. Etienne, in Caen, for a penance, and made 



238 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Lanfranc its prelate, and Matilda built her abbey of 
the Holy Trinity, while in four of the chief towns of 
Normandy hospitals were built for the old and sick 
people of the duchy. We shall see more of these 
churches presently, but there they still stand, facing 
each other across the high-peaked roofs of Caen ; 
high and stately churches, the woman's tower and 
the man's showing characteristics of boldness and of 
ornament that mark the builders' fancy and carry us 
in imagination quickly back across the eight hundred 
years since they were planned and founded. Anselm, 
Maurilius, and Lanfranc, these were the teachers and 
householders of the great churches, and one must 
have a new respect for the young duke and duchess 
who could gather and hold three such scholars and 
saintly men to be leaders of the church in Nor- 
mandy. 

There were four sons and three daughters born to 
William and Matilda, and there is no hint of any 
difference or trouble between the duke and his wife 
until they were unable to agree about the mis- 
conduct of their eldest son. Matilda's influence for 
good may often be traced or guessed at in her hus- 
band's history, and there are pathetic certainties of 
her resignation and gentleness when she was often 
cruelly hurt and tried by the course of events. 

Later research has done away with the old idea of 
her working the famous Bayeux tapestry with the 
ladies of her court to celebrate the Conqueror's great 
deeds ; but he needed no tribute of needle-work, nor 
she either, to make them remembered. They have 
both left pictures of themselves done in fadeless col- 



MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 239 

ors and living text of lettering that will stand while 
English words are spoken, and Norman trees bloom 
in the spring, and Norman rivers run to the sea, and 
the towers of Caen spring boldly toward the sky. 

We cannot be too thankful that so much of these 
historic churches has been left untouched. When it 
is considered that at five separate times the very 
fiends of destruction and iconoclasm seem to have 
been let loose in Normandy, it is a great surprise 
that there should be so many old buildings still in 
existence. From the early depredations of the 
Northmen themselves, down to the religious wars of 
the sixteenth century and the French revolution of 
the eighteenth, there have been other and almost 
worse destroying agencies than even the wars them- 
selves. Besides the natural decay of masonry and 
timber, there was the very pride and growing wealth 
of the rich monastic orders and the large towns, who 
liked nothing better than to pull down their barns 
to build greater and often less interesting ones. 
The most prosperous cities naturally build the best 
churches, as they themselves increase, and naturally 
replace them oftenest, and so retain fewest that are 
of much historical interest in the end. The most 
popular weapon in the tenth and eleventh centuries 
was fire; and the first thing that Norman assailants 
were likely to do, was to throw burning torches over 
the walls into the besieged towns. Again and again 
they were burnt — houses, churches, and all. 

The Normans were constantly improving, how- 
ever, in their fashions of building, and had made a 
great advance upon the Roman architecture which 



24O THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

they had found when they came to Neustria. Their 
work has a distinct character of its own, and perhaps 
their very ignorance of the more ornate and less ef- 
fective work which had begun to prevail in Italy, 
gave them freedom to work out their own simple 
ideas. Instead of busying themselves with petty or- 
namentation and tawdry imagery, they trusted for 
effect to the principles of height and size. Their 
churches are more beautiful than any in the world ; 
their very plainness and severity gives them a beau- 
tiful dignity, and their slender pillars and high arches 
make one think of nothing so much as the tall pine 
forests of the North. What the Normans did with 
the idea of the Roman arch, they did too in many 
other ways. They had a gift of good taste that was 
most exceptional in that time, and especially in that 
part of Europe ; and whatever had been the power 
and efficiency of the last impulse of civilization from 
the South, this impulse from the North did a noble 
work in its turn. Normandy herself, in the days of 
William and Matilda, was fully alive and pervaded 
with dreams of growth and expansion. 

Nobody can tell how early the idea of the conquest 
of England began to be a favorite Norman dream. 
In those days there was always a possibility of some 
day owning one's neighbor's land, and with weak 
Eadward on the throne of England, only too ready to 
listen to the suggestions and demands of his Norman 
barons and favorite counsellors, it must have seemed 
always an easier, not to say more possible, thing to 
take one step farther. There was an excellent ante- 
chamber across the Channel for the crowded court 





CRYPT OF MOUNT ST. MICHEL. 



242 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and fields of Normandy, and William and Eadward 
were old friends and companions. In 105 1, when 
Normandy w r as at peace, and England was at any 
rate quiet and sullen, submissive to rule, but lying 
fast, bound like a rebellious slave that has been sold 
to a new master, William and a fine company of 
lords and gentlemen went a-visiting. 

All those lords and gentlemen kept their eyes very 
wide open, and took good notice of what they saw. 

It was not a common thing by any means, for a 
great duke to go pleasuring. He was apt to be too 
busy at home ; but William's affairs were in good 
order, and his cousin of England was a feeble man 
and more than half a Norman ; besides, he had no 
heir, and in course of time the English throne would 
lack a proper king. The idea of such a holiday 
might have pleased the anxious suitor of Matilda of 
Flanders, too, and have beguiled the hard time of 
waiting. Nobody stopped to remember that English 
law gave no right of succession to mere inheritance 
or descent. Ralph the Timid was vEthelred's grand- 
son ; but who would think of making him king in- 
stead of such a man as William? The poor banished 
prince at the Hungarian court, half a world away, 
was not so much as missed or wished for. Godwine 
was banished, Harold was in Ireland ; besides, it 
must be urged that there was something fine in the 
notion of adding such a state as Normandy to Eng- 
land. England was not robbed, but magnificently 
endowed by such a proposal. 

Eadward was amiably glad to see this brave Duke 
of the Normans. There was much to talk over to- 



MA TILDA OF FLANDERS. 243 

gether of the past ; the present had its questions, 
too, and it was good to have such a strong arm to 
lean upon ; what could have been more natural than 
that the future also should have its veil drawn aside, 
not too rashly or irreverently? When Eadward had 
been gathered to his fellow saints, pioneered by vi- 
sions that did not fade, and panoplied by authentic 
relics — nay, when the man of prayers and cloistered 
quietness was kindly taken away from the discordant 
painfulness of an earthly kingdom, what more easy 
than to dream of this warlike William in his place ; 
William, a man of war and soldiery, for whom the 
government of two great kingdoms in one, would 
only harden and employ the tense muscles ajid heavy 
brain ; would only provide his own rightful business? 
And, while Eadward thought of this plan, William 
was Norman, too, and with the careful diplomacy of 
his race, he joined the daring and outspokenness of 
old Rolf the Ganger ; he came back with his lords 
and gentlemen to Normandy, weighed down with 
presents — every man of them who had not stayed 
behind for better gain's sake. He came back to 
Normandy the acknowledged successor to the Eng- 
lish crown. Heaven send dampness now and bleak 
winds, and let poor Eadward's sufferings be short ! 
There was work for a man to do in ruling England, 
and Eadward could not do it. The Englishmen were 
stupid and dull ; they ate too much and drank too 
much; they clung with both hands to their old no- 
tions of state-craft and government. It was the old 
story of the hare and the tortoise, but the hare was 
fleet of foot and would win. 



244 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Win ? Yes, this race and that race ; and yet the 
tortoise was going to be somehow made over new, 
and keep a steady course in the right path, and learn 
speed, and get to be better than the old tortoise as 
the years went on and on. 

Eadward had no right to will away the kingship of 
England ; but this must have been the time of the 
promise that the Normans claimed, and that their 
chroniclers have recorded. All Normandy believed 
in this promise, and were ready to fight for it in after 
years. It is most likely that Eadward was only too 
glad, at this date, to make a private arrangement 
with the duke. He was on the worst of terms just 
then with Godwine and his family, and consequently 
with the displeased English party, who were their 
ardent upholders. Indeed, a great many of these 
men were in Ireland with Harold, having turned their 
backs upon a king and court that were growing more 
friendly to Normandy and disloyal to England day 
by day. 

The very next year after William's triumphal visit 
the Confessor was obliged to change his course in the 
still stormier sea of English politics. The Normans 
had shown their policy too soon, and there was a 
widespread disapproval, and an outcry for Godwine's 
return from exile. Baldwin of Flanders, and King 
Henry of France, had already been petitioning for 
his pardon, and suddenly Godwine himself came sail- 
ing up the Thames, and London eagerly put itself 
under his control. Then Eadward the Confessor con- 
sented to a reconciliation, there being no apparent 
alternative, and a troop of disappointed and dis- 



MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 245 

placed foreigners went back to Normandy. Robert 
of Jumieges, was among them. The Anglo-Saxon 
chronicle tells us gravely, that at Walton-on-the- 
Naze, " they were lighted on a crazy ship, and the 
archbishop betook himself at once over the sea, leav- 
ing behind him his pall and all his Christendom here 
in the land even as God willed it, because he had 
taken upon him that worship as God willed it not." 
The plea for taking away his place was " because he 
had done more than any to cause strife between 
Godwine and the king " ; and Godwine's power was 
again the strongest in England. 

The great earl lived only a few months longer, 
and when he died his son Harold took his place. 
Already the eyes of many Englishmen were ready to 
see in him their future king. Already he stands out 
a bold figure, with a heart that was true to England, 
and though the hopes that centred in him were 
broken centuries ago, we cannot help catching some- 
thing of the hope and spirit of the time. We are al- 
most ready to forget that this brave leader, the 
champion of that elder English people, was doomed 
to fall before the on-rushing of a new element of 
manhood, a tributary stream that came to swell the 
mighty channel of the English race and history. 
William the Norman was busy at home, meanwhile. 
The old hostility between Normandy and Flanders, 
which dated from the time of William Longsword's 
murder, was now at a certain end, by reason of the 
duke's marriage. Matilda, the noble Flemish lady, 
the descendant of good King Alfred of England, had 
brought peace and friendliness as not the least of 



246 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

her dowry, and all fear of any immediate antagonism 
from that quarter was at an end. 

By the alliance with the kings of France, the Nor- 
man dukes had been greatly helped to gain their 
present eminence, and to the Norman dukes the 
French kings, in their turn, owed their stability upon 
their own thrones ; they had fought for each other 
and stood by each other again and again. Now, 
there was a rift between them that grew wider and 
wider — a rift that came from jealousy and fear of the 
Normans' wealth and enormous growth in strength. 
They were masters of the Breton country, and had 
close ties of relationship, moreover, with not only 
Brittany, but with Flanders and the smaller county 
of Ponthieu, which lay between them and the Flem- 
ings. Normandy stretched her huge bulk and 
strength between France and the sea ; she com- 
manded the French rivers, the French borders ; she 
was too much to be feared ; if ever her pride were to 
be brought down, and the old vassalage insisted 
upon, it could not be too soon. Henry forgot all 
that he owed to the Normans' protection, and pro- 
voked them by incessant hostilities — secret and 
open treacheries, — and the fox waged war upon the 
lion, until a spirit of enmity was roused that hardly 
slept again for five hundred years. 

There were other princes ready enough to satisfy 
their fear and jealousy. The lands of the conspira- 
tors stretched from Burgundy to the Pyrenees. Bur- 
gundy, Blois, Ponthieu, Aquitaine, and Poictiers all 
joined in the chase for this William the Bastard, the 
chief of the hated pirates. All the old gibes and 



matilda of flanders. 247 

taunts, and contemptuous animosity were revived ; 
now was the time to put an end to the Norman's 
outrageous greed of power and insolence of posses- 
sion, and the great allied army divided itself in two 
parts, and marched away to Normandy. 

King Henry's brother, Odo, turned his forces tow- 
ard Rouen, and the king himself took a more south- 
erly direction, by the way of Lisieux to the sea. 
They meant, at any rate, to pen the duke into his 
old Danish region of the Cotentin and Bessin dis- 
tricts ; all his eastern lands, the grant from Charles 
the Simple, with the rest, were to be seized upon and 
taken back by their original owners. 

Things had changed since the battle of Val-es- 
dunes. There was no division now among the Nor- 
man lords, and as the word to arm against France 
was passed from one feudal chieftan to another, 
there was a great mustering of horse and foot. So 
the king had made up his mind to punish them, and 
to behave as if he had a right to take back the gift 
that was unwillingly wrung from Charles the Simple. 
Normandy is our own, not Henry's, was the angry 
answer ; and Ralph of Tesson, and the soldiers of 
Falaise, the Lord of Mortain, the men of Bessin, and 
the barons of the Cotentin were ready to take the 
field, and stand shoulder to shoulder. There had 
been a change indeed, in Normandy ; and from one 
end of it to the other there was a cry of shame 
and treachery upon Henry, the faithless ally and 
overlord. They had learned to know William as a 
man not against their interests but with them, and 
for them and the glory of Normandy ; and they had 



248 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

not so soon forgotten the day of Val-es-dunes and 
their bitter mistake. 

The king's force had come into the country by 
the frontier city of Aumale, and had been doing 
every sort of damage that human ingenuity could in- 
vent between conqueror and vanquished. It was 
complained by those who escaped that the French 
were worse than Saracens. Old people, women, and 
children were abused or quickly butchered ; men were 
taken prisoners; churches and houses were burnt or 
pulled to pieces. There was a town called Morte- 
mer which had the ill-luck to be chosen for the 
French head-quarters, because it was then a good 
place for getting supplies and lodging, though now 
there is nothing left of it but the remains of an an- 
cient tower and a few dwellings and gardens. Here 
the feasting and revelry went on as if Normandy 
were already fallen. All day there were raids in the 
neighboring country, and bringing in of captives, and 
plunder; and William's spies came to Mortemer, and 
went home to tell the duke the whole story of the 
hateful scene. There was a huge army collected 
there fearless of surprise ; this was the place to strike 
a blow, and the duke and his captains made a rapid 
march by night so that they reached Mortemer be- 
fore daylight. 

There was no weapon more cherished by the pi- 
rates' grandchildren than a blazing fire-brand, and the 
army stole through the town while their enemies still 
slept, stupid with eating and drinking, or weary from 
the previous day's harrying. They waked to find 
their houses in flames, the roofs crackling, a horrid 



MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 249 

glare of light, a bewilderment of smoke and shouts ; 
the Normans ready to kill, to burn, to pen them 
back by sturdy guards at the streets' ends. There 
was a courageous resistance to this onslaught, but 
from early morning until the day was well spent the 
fight went on, and most of the invaders were cut to 
pieces. The dead men lay thick in the streets, and 
scattered everywhere about the adjacent fields. 
" Only those were spared who were worth sparing 
for the sake of their ransom. Many a Norman sol- 
dier, down to the meanest serving-man in the ranks, 
carried off his French prisoner; many a one carried 
off his two or three goodly steeds with their rich 
harness. In all Normandy there was not a prison 
that was not full of Frenchmen." * All this was 
done with scarcely any loss to the Normans, at least 
so we are told, and the news came to William that 
same evening, and made him thank God with great 
rejoicing. It would seem as if only a God of battles 
could be a very near and_welcome sovereign to this 
soldier-lord of Normandy. 

The victor had still another foe to meet. The 
king's command was still to be vanquished, and per- 
haps it might be done with even less bloodshed. 
The night had fallen, and he chose" Ralph of Toesny, 
son of that Roger who sought the Spanish kingdom, 
the enemy of his own ill-championed childhood, to 
go as messenger to the king's tent. The two chief- 
tains cannot have been encamped very far apart, for 
it was still dark when Ralph rode fast on his errand. 
He crept close to where the king lay in the darkness, 

* Freeman. 



250 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and in the glimmer of dawn he gave a doleful shout: 
" Wake, wake, you Frenchmen ! You sleep too long ; 
go and bury your friends who lie dead at Morte- 
mer" ; then he stole away again unseen, while the 
startled king and his followers whispered together 
of such a terrible omen. Ill news travels apace ; 
they were not long in doubt ; a panic seized the 
whole host. Not for Rouen now, or the Norman 
cities, but for Paris the king marched as fast as he 
could go ; and nobody gave him chase, so that be- 
fore long he and his counts were safe at home again 
with the thought of their folly for company. Craft 
is not so fine a grace as courage ; but craft served the 
Normans many a good turn ; and this was not the 
least glorious of William's victories, though no blood 
was spilt, though the king was driven away and no 
sword lifted to punish him. The Normans loved a 
bit of fun ; we can imagine how well they liked to 
tell the story of spoiling half an army with hardly a 
scratch for themselves, and making the other half 
take to its heels at the sound of Ralph de Toesny's 
gloomy voice in the night. There were frequent 
hostilities after this along the borders, but no more 
leagues of the French counts ; there was a castle of 
Breteuil built to stand guard against the king's cas- 
tle of Tillieres, and William Fitz-Osbern was made 
commander of it ; there was an expedition of the 
Count of Maine, aided by Geoffrey Martel and a 
somewhat unwilling Breton prince, against the south- 
ern castle of Ambrieres. But when William has- 
tened to its relief the besiegers took to flight, except 
the Lord of Maine, who was captured and put into 



MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 2$ I 

prison until he was willing to acknowledge himself 
the duke's vassal ; and after this there were three 
years of peace in Normandy. 

It had grown to be a most orderly country. Wil- 
liam's famous curfew bell was proved to be an effi- 
cient police force. Every household's fire was out at 
eight o'clock in winter, and sunset in summer, and 
its lights extinguished ; every man was in his own 
dwelling-place then under dire penalty ; he was a 
strict governor, but in the main a just one — this son 
of the lawless Robert. He upheld the rights of the 
poor landholders and widows, and while he was feared 
he was respected. It was now that he gave so much 
thought to the rights of the Church, or the following 
out of his own dislike, in the dismissal of his Uncle 
Mauger, the primate of the duchy. 

There is still another battle to be recorded in this 
chapter, — one which for real importance is classed 
with the two famous days of Val-es-dunes and Hast- 
ings, — the battle fought at Varaville, against the 
French king and his Angevine ally, who took it into 
their silly heads to go a-plundering on the duke's 
domain. 

Bayeux and Caen were to be sacked, and all the 
surrounding country ; besides this, the allies were 
going to march to the sea to show the Bastard that 
he could not lock them up in their inland country 
and shake the key in their faces. William watched 
them as a cat watches a mouse and lets the poor 
thing play and feast itself in fancied security. He 
had the patience to let the invaders rob and burn, 
and spoil the crops ; to let them live in his towns, 



252 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and the French king himself hold a temporary court 
in a fine new abbey of the Bessin, until everybody 
thought he was afraid of this mouse, and that all the 
Normans were cowards ; then the quick, fierce paw 
struck out, and the blow fell. It is a piteous story of 
war, that battle of Varaville ! 

There was a ford where the French, laden with 
their weight of spoils, meant to cross the river Dive 
into the district of Auge. On the Varaville side the 
land is marshy ; across the river, and at no great dis- 
tance, there is a range of hills which lie between the 
bank of the Dive and the rich country of Lisieux. 
The French had meant to go to Lisieux when they 
started out on their other enterprise. But William 
had waited for this moment ; part of the army under 
the king's command had crossed over, and were even 
beginning to climb the hills. The rear-guard with 
the great baggage trains were on the other bank, 
when there was a deplorable surprise. William, with 
a body of trained troops, had come out from Falaise ; 
he had recruited his army with all the peasants of the 
district ; armed with every rude weapon that could 
be gathered in such haste, they were only too ready 
to fall upon the French mercilessly. 

The tide was flowing in with disastrous haste, and 
the Frenchmen had not counted upon this awful foe. 
Their army was cut in two ; the king looked down 
in misery from the height he had thoughtlessly 
gained. Now we hear almost for the first time of 
that deadly shower of Norman arrows, famous enough 
since in history. Down they came with their sharp 
talons ; the poor French were huddling together at 



MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 



253 



the river's brink; there was no shelter; the bowmen 
shot at them ; the peasants beat them with flails and 
scythes ; into the rushing water they went, and 
floated away writhing. There was not a man left 
alive in troop after troop, and there were men enough 
of the Normans who knew the puzzling, marshy 
ground to chase and capture those other troopers 
who tried to run away. 
Alas for the lilies of France ! 
how they were trailed in 
the mire of that riverside at 
Varaville ! It was a mas- 
sacre rather than a battle, 
and Henry's spirit was hum- 
bled. " Heavy-hearted, he 
never held spear or shield 
again," says the chronicle. 
There were no more ex- 
peditions against Norman- 
dy in his time ; he sued 
for a truce, and paid as 
the price for it, the castle 
of Tillieres, and so that 

stronghold came back to its rightful lords again. 
Within two years he died, being an old man, and we 
can well believe a disappointed one. Geoffrey Mar- 
tel died too, that year, the most troublesome of the 
Bastard's great neighbors. This was 1060 ; and it 
was in that year that Harold of England first came 
over to Normandy — an unlucky visit enough, as time 
proved. His object was partly to take a look at the 
political state of Gaul ; but if he meant to sound the 




A NORMAN ARCHER. 



254 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

hearts of the duke's neighbors in regard to him, as 
some people have thought, he could not have chosen 
a more unlucky time. If he meant to speak for sup- 
port in case William proved to be England's enemy 
in days to come, he was too late ; those who would 
have been most ready to listen were beyond the 
reach of human intrigues, and their deaths had the 
effect of favoring William's supremacy, not dis- 
puting it. 

There is no record of the great earl's meeting the 
Norman duke at all on this first journey. If we had 
a better account of it, we might solve many vexed 
questions. Some scholars think that it was during 
this visit that Harold was inveigled into taking oath 
to uphold William's claim to the English crown, 
but the records nearly all belong to the religious 
character of the expedition. Harold followed King 
Cnut's example in going on a pilgrimage to Rome, 
and brought back various treasures for his abbey of 
Waltham, the most favored religious house of his 
earldom. He has suffered much misrepresentation, 
no doubt, at the hands of the monkish writers, for he 
neglected their claims in proportion as he favored 
their secular brethren, for whom the abbey was de- 
signed. A monk retired from the world for the ben- 
efit of his own soul, but a priest gave his life in teach- 
ing and preaching to his fellow-men. We are told 
that Harold had no prejudice against even a married 
priest, and this was rank heresy and ecclesiastical 
treason in the minds of many cloistered brethren. 




XIII. 

HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 

" The languid pulse of England starts 
And bounds beneath your words of power." 

— Whittier. 



JUST here we might well stop to consider the true 
causes and effects of war. Seen in the largest way 
possible, from this side of life, certain forces of devel- 
opment are enabled to assert themselves only by 
outgrowing, outnumbering, outfighting their op- 
posers. War is the conflict between ideas that are 
going to live and ideas that have passed their ma- 
turity and are going to die. Men possess themselves 
of a new truth, a clearer perception of the affairs of 
humanity ; progress itself is made possible with its 
larger share of freedom for the individual or for na- 
tions only by a relentless overthrowing of outgrown 
opinions. It is only by new combinations of races, 
new assertions of the old unconquerable forces, 
that the spiritual kingdom gains or rather shows its 
power. When men claim that humanity can only 
move round in a circle, that the world has lost many 
things, that the experience of humanity is like 
the succession of the seasons, and that there is re- 
production but not progression, it is well to take a 

255 



256 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

closer look, to see how by combination, by stimulus 
of example, and power of spiritual forces and God's 
great purposes, this whole world is nearer every year 
to the highest level any fortunate part of it has ever 
gained. Wars may appear to delay, but in due time 
they surely raise whole nations of men to higher 
levels, whether by preparing for new growths or by 
mixing the new and old. Generals of battalions 
and unreckoned camp-followers alike are effects of 
some great change, not causes of it. And no war 
was ever fought that was not an evidence that one 
element in it had outgrown the other and was bound 
to get itself manifested and better understood. The 
first effect of war is incidental and temporary ; the 
secondary effect makes a link in the grand chain of 
the spiritual education and development of the 
world. 

We grow confused in trying to find our way 
through the intricate tangle of stories about the 
relation of Harold and William to each other, with 
their promises and oaths and understanding of each 
other's position in regard to the throne of England. 
Of course, William knew that Harold had a hope of 
succeeding the Confessor. There was nobody so fit 
for it in some respects as he — nobody who knew and 
loved England any better, or was more important 
to her welfare. He had fought for her; he was his 
father's son, and the eyes of many southern English- 
men would turn toward him if the question of the 
succession were publicly put in the Witanagemot. 
He might have defamersand enviers, but the Earl of 
the West Saxons was the foremost man in England. 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. Itf 

He had a right to expect recognition from his coun- 
trymen. The kingship was not hereditary, and Ead- 
ward had no heirs if it had been. Eadward trusted 
him ; perhaps he had let fall a hint that he meant to 
recommend his wise earl as successor, even though 
it were a repetition of another promise made to 
William when Harold was a banished man and the 
house of Godwine serving its term of disgrace and 
exile. 

It appears that Eadward had undergone an inter- 
mediate season of distrusting either of these two 
prominent candidates for succession. But the mem- 
ory of Eadward Ironside was fondly cherished in 
England, and his son, Eadward the Outlaw, the law- 
ful heir of the crown, was summoned back to his 
inheritance from Hungary. There was great rejoi- 
cing, and the Atheling's wife and his three beautiful 
children, a son and two daughters, were for a time 
great favorites and kindled an instant loyalty all too 
soon to fade. Alas ! that Eadward should have re- 
turned from his long banishment to sicken and die in 
London just as life held out such fair promises; and 
again the Confessor's mind was troubled by the 
doubtful future of his kingdom. 

On the other hand, if we trust to the Norman 
records now, — not always unconfirmed by the early 
English historians, — we must take into account many 
objections to, as well as admissions of, Harold's 
claim. Eadward's inclination seems often to swerve 
toward his Norman cousin, who alone seemed able 
to govern England properly or to hold her jealous 
forces well in hand. The great English earls were 



2 $8 THE STORY OF THE NG/?Af.4A T S. 

in fact nearly the same as kings of their provinces. 
There was much opposition and lack of agreement 
between them ; there was a good deal of animosity 
along the borders in certain sections, and a deep race 
prejudice between the Danes of Northumberland 
and the men of the south. The Danes from over- 
sea were scheming to regain the realm that had be- 
longed to their own great ruler Cnut, and so there 
was a prospect of civil war or foreign invasion which 
needed a strong hand. Harold's desire to make 
himself king was not in accordance with the English 
customs. He was not of the royal house ; he was 
only one of the English earls, and held on certain 
grounds no better right to pre-eminence than they. 
Leofric and Siward would have looked upon him as 
an undeserving interloper, who had no right to rule 
over them. " The grandsons of Leofric, who ruled 
half England," says one historian, " would scarcely 
submit to the dominion of an equal. . . . No 
individual who was not of an ancient royal house 
had ever been able to maintain himself upon an 
Anglo-Saxon throne." 

Before we yield too much to our natural senti- 
ment over the story of this unfortunate " last of the 
Saxon kings," it is well to remember the bad and 
hindering result to England if Harold had conquered 
instead of fallen on the battle-field of Hastings, 
The weakness of England was in her lack of unity 
and her existing system of local government. 

There are two or three plausible stories about 
Harold's purpose in going to Normandy. It is 
sometimes impossible in tracing this portion of his- 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 



259 



tory through both English and Norman chronicles 
to find even the same incidents mentioned. Each 
historian has such a different proof and end in view, 
and it is only by the closest study, and a good deal of 




GUY, COUNT OF PONTHIEU, BAYEUX TAPESTRY. 

guesswork beside, that a reasonable account of Har- 
old's second visit, and the effects of it, can be made 
out. We may listen for a moment to the story of 
his being sent by Eadward to announce that the Eng- 
lish crown was to be given to the Norman duke by 



200 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Eadward's own recommendation to the council, or we 
may puzzle our way through an improbable tale that 
Godwine's son, Wolfnoth, and grandson, Hakon, 
were still held by William as hostages between 
Eadward and Godwine, though Godwine's family 
had long since been formally reinstated and re-en- 
dowed. Harold is supposed to have gone over to 
demand their release, though Eadward mournfully 
warned him of danger and treachery. 

The most probable explanation is that Harold 
was bound on a pleasure excursion with some of his 
family either to Flanders or some part of his own 
country, and was shipwrecked and cast ashore on the 
coast of Ponthieu. All accounts agree about this, 
though they differ so much about the port he meant 
to make and his secret purpose. 

In those days wrecking was a sadly common prac- 
tice, and the more illustrious a rescued man might 
be, the larger ransom was demanded. When we re- 
flect that much of the brutal and lawless custom of 
wrecking survived almost if not quite to our own 
time in England, we cannot expect much from the 
leniency of the Count of Ponthieu's subjects, or in- 
deed much clemency from that petty sovereign him- 
self. Harold was thrown into prison and suffered 
many things there before the Duke of Normandy 
could receive his message and come to his relief. 

We might imagine for ourselves now a fine histori- 
cal picture of William the Conqueror seated in his 
palace at Rouen, busy with affairs of church and 
state. He has grown stouter, and his face shows 
marks of thought and care which were not all there 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 26 1 

when he went to England. His hair is worn thin 
by his helmet, and the frank, courteous look of his 
youth has given place to sternness and insistance, 
though his smile is ready to be summoned when oc- 
casion demands. He is a man who could still be 
mild with the gentle, and pleasantry was a weapon 
and tool if it were not an unconscious habit. Greater 
in state and less in soul, says one historian, who 
writes of him from an English standpoint at this 
hour in his career. A Norman gentleman lived deli- 
cately in those days ; he was a worthy successor of 
a Roman gentleman in the luxurious days of the 
empire, but not yet enfeebled and belittled by ease 
and extravagance — though we do listen with amuse- 
ment to a rumor that the elegant successors of Rolf 
the Ganger were very dependent upon warm baths, 
and a good sousing with cold water was a much 
dreaded punishment and penance. The reign of the 
valet had become better assured than the reign (in 
England) of the offspring of Woden and the house 
of Cerdic. 

But we forget to watch the great Duke of the Nor- 
mans as he sits in his royal chamber and listens to a 
messenger from the prisoned Earl of the West 
Saxons. It is a moment of tremendous significance, 
for by the assistance of winds and waves Harold has 
fallen into his power. He must tread carefully now 
and use his best cleverness of strategy and treacher- 
ous artifice. How the bystanders must have watched 
his face, and listened with eager expectation for his 
answer. The messenger pleads Harold's grievous 
condition ; hints of famine, torture, and death itself 



262 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

have been known to escape this brutal Count of Pon- 
thieu who keeps the great Englishman in his dun- 
geon as if he were a robber. Perhaps he only wishes 
to gain a greater ransom, perhaps he acts in traitor- 
ous defiance of his Lord of Normandy's known friend- 
ship for England. 

William replies at last with stern courtesy. He is 
deeply grieved, we can hear him say, for the earl's 
misfortune, but he can only deal in the matter as 
prince with prince. It is true that Guy of Ponthieu 
is his vassal and man, but Guy is governor of his 
coast, and makes his own laws. It will cost great 
treasure to ransom this noble captive, but the matter 
must be carefully arranged, for Guy is hot-tempered 
and might easily be provoked into sending Harold's 
head to Rouen without his body. Yet half the 
Norman duchy shall be spent if need be for such 
a cause as the English earl's release. 

Fitz-Osbern, the duke's seneschal and Malet de 
Graville, and the noble attendants of the palace mur- 
mur a pleased assent as the half-satisfied messenger 
is kindly dismissed. They detect an intrigue worthy 
of the best Norman ability, and know by William's 
face that he has unexpectedly gained a welcome 
control over events. 

The liberation of Harold was effected after much 
manoeuvring, necessary or feigned, and when he ap- 
peared before William it was as a grateful man who 
was in debt not only for his release from danger and 
discomfort, but for a great sum of money and a tract 
of valuable landed property. 

It is impossible not to suspect that Guy of Pon- 



264 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

thieu and William were in league with each other, 
and when the ransom was paid, the wrecker-count 
became very amiable, and even insisted upon riding 
with a gay company of knights to the place where 
the Norman duke came with a splendid retinue to 
meet his distinguished guest. William laid aside 
the cumbrous forms of court etiquette and hurried 
to the gates of the Chateau d'Eu to help Harold to 
dismount, and greeted him with cordial affection, as 
friend with friend. Harold may well have been 
dazzled by his reception at the most powerful court 
in that part of the world. To have a welcome that 
befitted a king may well have pleased him into at 
least a temporary acknowledgment of his entertain- 
er's majestic power and rights. No doubt, during 
that unlucky visit it seemed dignity enough to be 
paraded everywhere as the great duke's chosen 
companion and honored friend and guest. At any 
rate, Harold's visit seems to have given occupation 
to the court, and we catch many interesting glimpses 
of the stately Norman life, as well as the humble, 
almost brutal, condition of the lower classes, awed in- 
to quietness and acquiescence by the sternness and 
exactness of William's rule. It must be acknowledged 
that if the laws were severe they prevented much dis- 
order that had smouldered in other times in the lower 
strata of society ; men had less power and oppor- 
tunity to harm each other or to enfeeble the state. 

No greater piece of good luck could have befallen 
the duke than to win the post of Harold's benefac- 
tor, and he played the part gallantly. Not only the 
duke but the duchess treated their guest with un- 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 26$ 

common courtesy, and he was admitted to the 
closest intimacy with the household. If Harold had 
been wise he would have gone back to England as 
fast as sails could carry him, but instead of that he 
lingered on, equally ready to applaud the Norman 
exploits in camp and court, and to show his enter- 
tainers what English valor could achieve. He went 




OLD HOUSES, DOL. 

with the duke on some petty expedition against the 
rebellious Britons, but it is hard to make out a 
straight story of that enterprise. But there is a char- 
acteristic story of Harold's strength in the form of a 
tradition that when the Norman army was crossing 
the deep river Coesnon, which pours into the sea un- 
der the wall of Mount St. Michel, some of the 
troops were being swept away by the waves, when 



266 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Harold rescued them, taking them with great ease, 
at arm's length, out of the water. 

There is a sober announcement in one of the old 
chronicles, that the lands of Brittany were included 
in Charles the Simple's grant to Rolf, because Rolf 
had so devastated Normandy that there was little 
there to live upon. At the time of William's expe- 
dition, Brittany itself was evidently taking its turn 
at such vigorous shearing and pruning of the life of 
its fertile hills and valleys. The Bretons liked nothing 
so well as warfare, and when they did not unite 
against a foreign enemy, they spent their time in 
plundering and slaughtering one another. Count 
Conan, the present aggressor, was the son of Alan 
of Brittany, William's guardian. Some of the 
Bretons were loyal to the Norman authority, and 
D61, an ancient city renowned for its ill luck, and 
Dinan were successively vacated by the rebels. 
Dinan was besieged by fire, a favorite weapon in 
the hands of the Normans ; but later we find that 
both the cities remained Breton, and the Norman 
allies go back to their own country. There is a hint 
somewhere of the appearance of an army from 
Anjou, to take the Bretons' part, but the Norman 
chroniclers ignore it as far as they can. 

It is impossible to fix the date of this campaign ; 
indeed there may have been more than one expedi- 
tion against Brittany. Still more difficult is it to 
learn any thing that is undisputed about the famous 
oath that Harold gave to William, and was after- 
ward so completely punished for breaking, ^et, 
while we do not know exactly what the oath was, 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 267 

Harold's most steadfast upholders have never been 
able to deny that there was an oath, and there is no 
contradiction, on the English side, of the whole 
affair. His best friends have been silent about it. 
The most familiar account is this, if we listen to the 
Norman stories : Harold entered into an engage- 
ment to marry one of William's daughters, who 
must have been very young at the time of the visit 
or visits to Normandy, and some writers claim that 
the whole cause of the quarrel lay in his refusal to 
keep his promise. There is a list beside of what 
appears to us unlikely concessions on the part of the 
English earl. Harold did homage to the duke, and 
formally became his man, and even promised to ac- 
knowledge his claim to the throne of England at the 
death of the Confessor. More than this, he promised 
to look after William's interest in England, and to 
put him at once into possession of the Castle of 
Dover, with the right of establishing a Norman gar- 
rison there. William, in return, agreed to hold his 
new vassal in highest honor, giving him by and by 
even the half of his prospective kingdom. When this 
surprising oath was taken, Harold was entrapped in- 
to swearing upon the holiest relic of Norman saints 
which had been concealed in a chest for the express 
purpose. With the superstitious awe that men of 
his time felt toward such emblems, this not very re- 
spectable act on William's part is made to reflect 
darkly upon Harold. Master Wace says that " his 
hand trembled and his flesh quivered when he 
touched the chest, though he did not know what was 
in it, and how much more distressed he was when he 



268 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

found by what an awful vow he had unwittingly 
bound his soul." 

So Harold returned to England the tluke's vassal 
and future son-in-law, according to the chronicles, 
but who can help being suspicious, after knowing how 
Harold was indebted to the duke and bound with 
cunningly contrived chains until he found himself a 
prisoner ? William of Poitiers, a chronicler who 
wrote in the Conqueror's day, says that Harold was 
a man to whom imprisonment was more odious than 
shipwreck. It would be no wonder if he had made 
use of a piece of strategy, and was willing to make 
any sort of promise simply to gain his liberty. 

The plot of the relic-business put a different face 
upon the whole matter, and yet, even if Harold was 
dazzled for the time being by William's power and 
splendor, one must doubt whether he would have 
given up all his ambition of reigning in England. He 
was already too great a man at home to play the sub- 
ject and flatterer with much sincerity, even though 
his master were the high and mighty Duke of the 
Normans, and he had come from a ruder country to 
the fascination and elegance of the Norman court. 
Whatever the oath may have been that Harold gave 
at Bayeux, it is certain that he broke it afterward, 
and that his enemies made his failure not only an 
affair of state, but of church, and waged a bitter war 
that brought him to his sad end. 

Now, the Norman knights might well look to it 
that their armor was strong and the Norman soldiers 
provide themselves with arrows and well-seasoned 
bows. It was likely that Harold's promise was no 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 269 

secret, and that some echo of it reached from one 
end of the dukedom to the other. There were great 
enterprises on foot, and at night in the firelight 
there was eager discussion of possible campaigns, 
for though the great Duke William, their soldier of 
soldiers, had bent the strength of his resistless force 
upon a new kingdom across the Channel and had 
won himself such a valuable ally, it was not likely 
that England would be ready to fall into his hand 
like a ripe apple from the bough. There was sure 
to be fighting, but there was something worth fight- 
ing for ; the petty sorties against the provincial 
neighbors of Normandy were hardly worth the no- 
tice of her army. Men like the duke's soldiers were 
fit for something better than such police duty. Be- 
sides, a deep provocation had not been forgiven by 
those gentlemen who were hustled out of England 
by Godwine and his party, and many an old score 
would now stand a chance of repayment. 

Not many months were passed before the news 
came from London that the holy king Eadward was 
soon to leave this world for a better. He was 
already renowned as a worker of miracles and a seer 
of visions, and the story was whispered reverently 
that he had given his ring to a beggar who appeared 
before him to ask alms in the middle of a crowd as- 
sembled at the dedication of a church. The beg-gar 
disappeared, but that very night some English pil- 
grims on their way to Jerusalem are shelterless and 
in danger near the holy city. Suddenly a company 
of shining acolytes approach through the wilderness, 
carrying two tapers before an old man, as if he were 



2^0 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

out on some errand of the church. He stops to 
ask the wondering pilgrims whence they come and 
whither they are going, and guides them to a city 
and a comfortable lodging, and next morning tells 
them that he is Saint John the Evangelist. More 
than this, he gives them the Confessor's ring, with a 
message to carry back to England. Within six 
months Eadward will be admitted to paradise as a 
reward for his pure and pious life. The message is 
carried to the king by miraculous agency that same 
night, and ever since he prays and fasts more than 
ever, and is hurrying the builders of his great West- 
minster, so that he may see that holy monument of 
his piety dedicated to the service of God before he 
dies. 

The Norman lords and gentlemen who listened to 
this tale must have crossed themselves, one fancies, 
and craved a blessing on the saintly king, but the 
next minute we fancy also that they gave one an- 
other a glance that betokened a lively expectation of 
what might follow the news of Eadward's translation. 

Twice in the year, at Easter and Christmas, the 
English king wore his crown in the great Witanage- 
mot and held court among his noblemen. In this 
year the midwinter Gemot was held at the king's court 
at Westminster, instead of at Gloucester, to hallow 
the Church of St. Peter, the new shrine to v/hich so 
much more of the Confessor's thought had gone than 
to the ruling of his kingdom. 

But in the triumphant days to which he had long 
looked forward, his strength failed faster and faster, 
and his queen, Edith, the daughter of Godwine, had 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 27 1 

to take his place at the ceremonies. The histories of 
that day are filled with accounts of the grand build- 
ing that Eadward's piety had reared. He had given a 
tenth part of all his income to it for many years, and 
with a proud remembrance of the Norman churches 
with which he was familiar in his early days, had 
made Westminster a noble rival of them and the 
finest church in England. The new year was hardly 
begun, the Witan had not scattered to their homes, 
before Eadward the Confessor was carried to his 
tomb — the last of the sons of Woden. He had 
reigned for three and twenty years, and was al- 
ready a worn old man. 

" Now, in the falling autumn, while the winds 
Of winter blew across his scanty days 
He gathered up life's embers " 

But as he lay dying in the royal palace at Westmin- 
ster everybody was less anxious about the king, than 
about the country's uncertain future. Harold had 
been a sort of under-king for several years, and had 
taken upon himself many of the practical duties of 
government. He had done great deeds against the 
Welsh, and was a better general and war-man than 
Eadward had ever been. Nobody had any hope of 
the Confessor's recovery, and any hour might find the 
nation kingless. The Atheling's young son was a 
feeble, incompetent person, and wholly a foreigner ; 
only the most romantic and senseless citizen could 
dream of making him Lord of England in such a 
time as that. There were a thousand rumors afloat ; 
every man had his theory and his prejudice, and at 
last there must have been a general feeling of relief 



272 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

when the news was told that the saint-king was dead 
in his palace and had named Harold as his successor. 
The people clung eagerly to such a nomination ; now 
that Eadward was dead he was saint indeed, and 
there was a funeral and a coronation that same day 
in the minster on the Isle of Thorney ; his last word 
to the people was made law. 

No more whispering that Harold was the Duke of 
the Normans' man, and might betray England again 
into the hands of those greedy favorites whom the 
holy king had cherished in his bosom like serpents. 
No more fears of Harold's jealous enemies among 
the earls ; there was a short-sighted joy that the 
great step of the succession had been made and 
settled fast in the consent of the Witan, who still 
lingered ; to be dispersed, when these famous days 
were at an end, by another king of England than he 
who had called them together. 

The king had prophesied in his last hours ; he had 
seen visions and dreamed dreams ; he had said that 
great sorrows were to fall upon England for her sins, 
and that her earls and bishops and abbots were but 
ministers of the fiend in the eye of God ; that within 
a year and a day the whole land would be harried 
from one end to another with fire and slaughter. 
Yet, almost with the same breath, he recommends 
his Norman friends, " those whom in his simplicity 
he spoke of as men who had left their native land 
for love of him," to Harold's care, and does not seem 
to suspect their remotest agency in the future harry- 
ing. True enough some of the Norman officers were 
loyal to him and to England. This death-bed scene 



HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN, 



--> -i ■} 



is sad and solemn. Norman Robert the Staller 
was there, and Stigand, the illegal archbishop ; 




Harold, the hope of England, and his sister, the 
queen, who mourns now and is very tender to her 



274 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

royal husband, who has given her a sorry lot with his 
cold-heartedness toward her and the dismal exile 
and estrangement he has made her suffer. He loves 
her and trusts her now in this last day of life, and her 
woman's heart forgets the days that were dark be- 
tween them. He even commends her to Harold's 
care, and directs that she must not lose the honors 
which have been hers as queen. 

There is a tradition that when Eadward lay dying 
he said that he was passing from the land of the 
dead to the land of the living, and the chronicle 
adds: "Saint Peter, his friend, opened to him the 
gates of Paradise, and Saint John, his own dear one, 
led him before the Divine Majesty." The walls that 
Eadward built are replaced by others ; there is not 
much of his abbey left now but some of the founda- 
tion and an archway or two. But his tomb stands 
in a sacred spot, and the prayers and hymns he 
loved so devoutly are said and sung yet in his own 
Westminster, the burying-place of many another 
king since the Confessor's time. 




XIV. 

NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 

" Great men have reaching hands." 

— Shakespeare. 

So Harold was crowned king of England. Our 
business is chiefly with what the Normans thought 
about that event, and while London is divided be- 
tween praises of the old king and hopes of the new 
one, and there are fears of what may follow from 
Earl Tostig's enmity ; while the Witan are dis- 
persing to their homes, and the exciting news travels 
faster than they do the length and breadth of the 
country, we must leave it all and imagine ourselves 
in Normandy. 

Duke William was at his park of Quevilly, near 
Rouen, and was on his way to the chase. He had 
been bending his bow — the famous bow that was 
too strong for other men's hands — and just as he 
gave it to the page who waited to carry it after him, 
a man-at-arms came straight to his side ; they went 
apart together to speak secretly, while the by- 
standers watched them curiously and whispered that 
the eager messenger was an Englishman. 

" Eadward the king is dead," the duke was told, 
275 



276 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

but that not unexpected news was only half the 
message. " Earl Harold is raised to the kingdom." 

There came an angry look into the duke's eyes, 
and the herald left him. William forgot his plans 
for the hunt ; he strode by his retainers ; he tied and 
untied his mantle absent-mindedly, and presently 
went down to the bank of the Seine again and 
crossed over in a boat to his castle hall. He entered 
silently, and nobody dared ask what misfortune had 
befallen him. His companions followed him and 
found him sitting on a bench, moving restlessly to 
and fro. Then he became quieter; he leaned his 
head against the great stone pillar and covered his 
face with his mantle. Long before, in the old Norse 
halls, where all the vikings lived together, if a man 
were sick or sorry or wished for any reason to be un- 
disturbed, he sat on his own bench and covered his 
head with his cloak; there was no room where he 
could be alone ; and after the old custom, in these 
later days, the knights of William's court left him 
to his thoughts. Then William Fitz-Osbern, the 
"bold-hearted," came into the quiet hall humming a 
tune. The awe-struck people who were clustered 
there asked him what was the matter ; then the 
duke looked up. 

" It is in vain for you to try to hide the news," said 
the Seneschal. " It is blazing through the streets 
of Rouen. The Confessor is dead, and Harold holds 
the English kingdom." 

The duke answered gravely that he sorrowed both 
for the death of Eadward and for the faithlessness of 
Harold. 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 



277 



"Arise and be doing," urges Fitz-Osbern. "There 
is no need for mourning. Cross the sea and snatch 
the kingdom out of the usurper's hand," and in this 




STIGAND, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 

way stern thought and dire purpose were thrown 
into the duke's holiday. The messenger had brought 
a lighted torch in his hand that was equal to kindling 
great plans that winter day in Normandy. 



278 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

William and all his men, from the least soldier to 
the greatest, knew that if they wished for England 
the only way to get it was to fight for it. There had 
never been such a proof of their mettle as this 
would be. The Normans who went to Italy had 
no such opponents as Harold and the rest of the 
Englishmen fighting on their own ground for their 
homes and their honor; but Norman courage shone 
brightest in these days. This is one of the places 
where we must least of all follow the duke's personal 
fortunes too closely, or forget that the best of the 
Normans were looking eagerly forward to the pos- 
session of new territory. Many of their cleverest 
men, too, were more than ready to punish the 
English for ejecting them from comfortable positions 
under Godwine's rule, and were anxious to reinstate 
themselves securely. There was no such perilous 
journey before the army as the followers of the 
Hautevilles had known, while their amazing stories 
of gain and glory incited the Normans at home to win 
themselves new fortunes. It is a proof that civiliza- 
tion and the arts of diplomacy were advancing, when 
we listen (and the adventurers listened too) while 
excuse after excuse was tendered for the great 
expedition. The news of Harold's accession was 
simply a welcome signal for action, but the heir of 
Rolf the Ganger was a politician, an astute wielder of 
public opinion, and his state-craft was now directed 
toward giving his desire to conquer England and 
reign over it a proper aspect in the eyes of other 
nations. 

The right of heritage was fast displacing every- 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 279 

where the people's right to choose their kings. The 
feudal system was close and strong in its links, but 
while Harold had broken his oath of homage to 
William, that alone was not sufficient crime. Such 
obligations were not always unbreakable, and were 
too much a matter of formality and temporary ex- 
pediency to warrant such an appeal to the common 
law of nations as William meant to make. As nearly 
as we can get at the truth of the matter, the chief 
argument against Harold the Usurper was on reli- 
gious grounds — on William's real or assumed promise 
of the succession from Eadward, and Harold's vow 
upon the holy relics of the saints at Rouen. This at 
least was most criminal blasphemy. The Normans 
gloried in their own allegiance to the church. Their 
duke was blameless in private life and a sworn de- 
fender and upholder of the faith, and by this means 
a most formidable ally was easily won, in the charac- 
ter of Lanfranc the great archbishop. 

Lanfranc and William governed Normandy hand 
in hand. In tracing the history of this time the 
priest seems as familiar with secular affairs, with the 
course of the state and the army and foreign rela- 
tions, as the duke was diligent in attending ecclesi- 
astical synods and church services. It was a time of 
great rivalry and uncertainty for the papal crown ; 
there was a pope and an anti-pope just then who 
were violent antagonists, but Archdeacon Hilde- 
brand was already the guide and authority of the 
Holy See. Later he became the Pope famous in 
history as Gregory VII. We are startled to find 
that the expedition against England was made to 



280 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

take the shape of a crusade, even though England 
was building her own churches, and sending pilgrims 
to the Holy Land, and pouring wealth most gener- 
ously into the church's coffers. " Priests and prel- 
ates were subject to the law like other men," that 
was the trouble ; and " a land where the king and 
his Witan gave and took away the staff of the bishop 
was a land which, in the eyes of Rome, was more 
dangerous than a land of Jews or Saracens." " It 
was a policy worthy of William to send to the thresh- 
old of the apostles to crave their blessing on his in- 
tended work of reducing the rebellious land, and it 
was a policy worthy of one greater than William 
himself, to make even William, for once in his life, 
the instrument of purposes yet more daring, yet 
more far-sighted, than his own. On the steps of the 
papal chair, and there alone, had William and Lan- 
franc to cope with an intellect loftier and more 
subtle than even theirs." * 

William sent an embassy to Harold probably very 
soon after the receipt of the news of his coronation. 
The full account of both the demand and its re- 
ply have been forgotten, but it is certain that what- 
ever the duke's commands were they were promptly 
disobeyed, and certain too that this was the result 
that William expected and even desired. He could 
add another grievance to his list of Harold's wrong- 
doings, and now, beside the original disloyalty, Wil- 
liam could complain that his vassal had formally re- 
fused to keep his formal promise and obligation. 
Then he called a council of Norman nobles at Lille- 
bonne and laid his plans before them. 

* Freeman : " The Norman Conquest." 




NORMANDY (iN I066). 



282 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

It was a famous company of counsellors and made 
up of the duke's oldest friends. There were William 
Fitz-Osbern, and the duke's brother Odo of Bayeux, 
whose priesthood was no hindrance to his good 
soldiery ; Richard of Evreux, the grandson of Rich- 
ard the Fearless ; Roger of Beaumont and the three 
heroes of Mortemer ; Walter Giffard ; Hugh de 
Montfort and William of Warren ; the Count of 
Mortain and Roger Montgomery and Count Robert 
of Eu. All these names we know, and familiar as 
they were in Normandy, they were, most of them, to 
strike deeper root in their new domain of England. 
We do not find that they objected now to William's 
plans, but urged only that they had no right to 
speak for the whole country, and that all the Nor- 
man barons ought to be called together to speak for 
themselves. 

This was a return to the fashions of Rolf's day, 
when the adventurers boasted on the banks of the 
Seine that they had no king to rule over them, and 
were all equal ; that they only asked for what they 
could win with their swords. We do not find any 
other record of a parliament in Normandy ; perhaps 
nothing had ever happened of late which so closely 
concerned every armed man within the Norman bor- 
ders. The feudal barons had a right to speak now 
for themselves and their dependants, and in the 
great ducal hall of the castle at Lillebonne William 
duke told them his story and called upon them 
for help. He had a great wish to revenge Harold's 
treatment of him by force of arms, and asked the 
noble company of barons what aid they would ren- 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 283 

der ; with how many men and how many ships and 
with what a sum of money they would follow him 
and uphold the weighty and difficult enterprise. 

Now we find many of the barons almost unwilling ; 
even doubtful of the possibility of conquering such 
a kingdom as England. After insisting that they 
had longed to go plundering across the Channel, and 
that the old love for fighting burned with as hot a 
fire as ever within their breasts, the chronicles say 
that this Norman parliament asked for time to talk 
things over in secret before the duke should have any 
answer. We are given a picture of them grouped 
around this and that pleader for or against the duke, 
and are told that they demurred, that they objected 
to crossing the sea to wage war, and that they feared 
the English. For a moment it appears as if the 
whole mind of the assembly were opposed to the 
undertaking. They even feared if they promised 
unusual supplies of men and treasure that William 
would forever keep them up to such a difficult stand- 
ard of generosity. I must say that all this does not 
ring true or match at all with the Norman character 
of that time. It would not be strange if there were 
objectors among them, but it does not seem possible 
when they were so ready to go adventuring before 
and after this time; when they were after all sepa- 
rated by so short a time from Rolf the Ganger's 
piracies, that many could have been so seriously 
daunted by the prospect of such limited seafaring 
as crossing the Channel. It appears like an ingenious 
method of magnifying the greatness and splendor 
of the Norman victory, and the valiant leadership of 
the duke and his most trusted aids. 



2 §4 THE STORY OF THE NOkMANS. 

William Fitz-Osbern was chosen to plead with 
the barons, and persuade them to follow the duke's 
banner. He reminded them that they were Wil- 
liam's vassals, and that it would be unwise to disap- 
point him. William was a stern man and fearful as 
an enemy. If any among them loved their ease, and 
wished to avoid their lawful tribute of service, let 
them reflect that they were in the power of such a 
mighty lord and master. What was their money 
worth to them if the duke branded them as faithless 
cowards, and why did they wish to disgrace their 
names and take no part in this just and holy war 
against the usurper? 

These were the arguments we can fancy brave 
Fitz-Osbern giving them one by one if indeed they 
hung back and were close-fisted or afraid. They 
commissioned him at last to speak for them at the 
next hearing, and when he boldly promised for each 
man double his regular fee and allotment — for the lord 
of twenty knights forty knights, and " for himself, of 
his love and zeal, sixty ships armed and equipped 
and filled with fighting men," the barons shouted 
at first " No, no ! " and the hall at Lillebonne echoed 
with the noise. 

But it was all settled finally, and we are told that 
the duke himself talked with his barons one by one, 
and that at last they were as eager as he. The whole 
objection seems to have been made for fear that 
their doubled and extraordinary tribute should be 
made a precedent, but the duke promptly gave his 
word of honor that it should not be so, and their 
estates should not be permanently weighted beyond 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 285 

their ability. The scribes took down the record of 
the knights and soldiers that each baron had prom- 
ised, and from this time there was a hum and stir of 
war-making in Normandy, and that spring there were 
more women than men in the fields tending the 
growing crops. 

The duke set himself seriously to work. All the 
barons of his duchy and all their men were not 
enough to depend upon for the overthrowing of 
England. William must appeal to his neighbors for 
help, and in this he was aided by the Pope's approval, 
and the blessing that was promised to those who 
would punish Harold and his countrymen, traitors 
to the Holy Church. The spoils of England were 
promised to all who would win a share in them, and 
adventurers flocked from east, north, and south to 
enroll themselves in the Norman ranks. Alan of 
Brittany was ready to command his forces in person 
and to come to William's assistance, and so was 
Eustace of Boulogne, but the French nobles who 
gathered about their young King Philip, still under 
Baldwin of Flanders's guardianship, were by no mean::, 
willing to help forward any thing that would make 
their Norman rivals any more powerful than they 
were already. From Flanders there were plenty of 
adventurers, and some high noblemen who needed 
little urging to join their fortunes to such an expedi- 
tion, and William sent embassies to more distant 
countries still, with better or worse results. There 
is a tradition that even the Normans of Sicily came 
northward in great numbers. 

The most important thing, next to carrying a suf- 



286 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ficient force into England, was to leave the Norman 
borders secure from invasion. If they were repulsed 
in England and returned to find they had lost part of 
Normandy, that would be a sorry fate indeed, and 
the duke exerted himself in every way to leave his 
territory secure. 

The most powerful alliance was that with the 
papal court at Rome. Here Lanfranc could serve 
his adopted country to good effect. Hildebrand's 
power was making itself felt more and more, and it 
was he who most ardently desired and fostered the 
claim of the Church to a mastery of all the crowns 
of Christendom. " The decree went forth, which 
declared Harold to be a usurper and William to be 
the lawful claimant of the English crown. It would 
even seem that it declared the English king and all 
his followers to be cut off from the communion of 
the faithful. William was sent forth as an avenger 
to chastise the wrong and perjury of his faithless 
vassal. But he was also sent forth as a missionary, 
to guide the erring English into the true path, to 
teach them due obedience to Christ's vicar, and to 
secure a more punctual payment of the temporal 
dues of his apostle. The cause of the invasion was 
blessed, and precious gifts were sent as the visible 
exponents of the blessing. A costly ring was sent, 
containing a relic, holier, it may be, than any on 
which Harold had sworn — a hair of the prince of the 
apostles. And with the ring came a consecrated 
banner." * These were, after all, more formidable 
weapons than the Norman arrows. They inspired 
* Freeman, " The Norman Conquest." 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 2%J 

not only courage, but a sense of duty and of right- 
eous service of God. Alas for poor humanity that 
lends itself so readily to wrongdoing, and even hopes 
to win heaven by making this earth a place of blood- 
shed and treachery. Now, William had something 
besides English lands and high places for knight and 
priest alike on conquered soil — he could give security 
and tminence in the world to come. Heaven itself 
had been promised by its chief representative on 
earth to those who would fight for the Duke of Nor- 
mandy against England. Hildebrand had made a 
last appeal to the holy assembly of cardinals when he 
told the story of the profaned relics and Harold's 
broken oath, and had urged the willing fathers of 
the church to consider how pious and benevolent it 
would be to Christianize the barbarous and heathen 
Saxons. Nobody took pains to remember that the 
priesthood of England owned a third of the English 
lands, and ruled them with a rod of iron. So long as 
England would not bend the knee to Rome, what 
did all that matter ? 

One significant thing happened at this time. Who 
should make his appearance at the duke's court but 
Tostig, the son of Godwine, eager, no doubt, to plot 
against Harold, and to take a sufficient revenge for the 
banishment and defeat by means of which he was 
then an outcast. He did not linger long, for the 
busy duke sent him quickly away, not uncommis- 
sioned for the war that was almost ready to begin. 

Harold also had set himself at work to gather his 
forces and to be in readiness for an attack which was 
sure to come. Another enemy was first in the field, 



288 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

for in the spring Tostig appeared in the Isle of 
Wight, the captain of a fleet of ships that were 
manned by Flemish and Norman men. He had re- 
ceived aid from William, and proceeded to wreak 
his vengeance upon the Kent and Sussex villages 
over which his father had once ruled. He does not 
appear to have gained any English allies, except at 
the seaport of Sandwich, where he probably hired 
some sailors ; then he went northward from there 
with sixty ships and attacked the coast of Godwine's 
earldom. He made great havoc in the shore towns, 
but Eadwineand Morkere of Northumberland hurried 
to meet him with their troops and drove him away, 
so that with only twelve ships left he went to Scot- 
land, where Malcolm, the Scottish king received him 
with a hearty welcome, and entertained him politely 
the rest of the summer. They had lately been sworn 
enemies, but now that Tostig was fighting against 
England, Malcolm put aside all bygone prejudice. 
In the summer of that eventful year, Tostig first 
proposed to the king of Denmark that he should 
come to England and help him to recover his earldom. 
Swegen had the good sense to refuse, and then the 
outlaw went on to Norway to make further proposals 
to Harold Hardrada, who also listened incredulously, 
but when Tostig suggested that Harold should be 
king of England, and that he would only ask to be 
under-king of the northern territory, that he would 
do homage to Harold and serve him loyally, the great 
Norwegian chieftain consented to make ready for 
an expedition. He seems to have been much like 
Rolf the Ganger, and a true, valiant viking at heart. 



scale: 
H4-ooaooo 




ENGLAND. 



29O THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

The old saga whence the story comes makes us for- 
get the plottings and claims of Rome and the glories 
of Norman court life ; the accounts of Harold Har- 
drada's expedition are like a breath of cold wind 
from the Northern shores, and the sight of a shining 
dragon-ship stealing away between the high shores 
of a fiord, outward-bound for a bout of plundering. 
But the saga records also the fame and prowess of 
that other Harold, the son of Godwine, and magnifies 
the power of such an enemy. 

Perhaps the English king trusted at first in the 
ability of the northern earls to take care of their 
own territory, and only tried to stand guard over the 
southern coast. 

He gathered an army and kept it together all the 
latter part of the summer, a most unprecedented and 
difficult thing in those days ; and with help from the 
local forces, or what we should call the militia, his 
soldiers kept guard along the shores of Sussex and 
Kent. We cannot estimate what a troublesome step 
forward in the art of warfare this was for English- 
men, who were used to quick forced marches and de- 
cisive battles, and a welcome dispersion after the 
cessation of whatever exciting cause or sudden sum- 
mons had gathered them. 

Harold's ships patrolled the Channel and the foot- 
soldiers paced the downs, but food, always hard to ob- 
tain, became at last impossible, and in September the 
army broke ranks. Harold himself went back to Lon- 
don, whither the fleet was also sent, but on the way 
it met with disaster, and many of the ships were lost 
and many more began to leak and were reluctantly 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 29 1 

judged unseaworthy. The whole southern coast was 
left undefended ; it was neither the king's fault nor 
the subjects' fault. Both had done their best, — but 
the crops must be gathered then or not at all, and at 
any rate, the army was weakened by famine and a 
growing belief in the uncertainty of attack. 

Alas for Harold's peace of mind ! In those very 
days William the Norman's host was clustering and 
gathering like bees just ready to swarm, on the coast 
of Normandy, and from the mouth of the Bergen 
fiord came Harold Hardrada with a great company, 
with a huge mass of treasure, such as had not for 
years and years floated away from a Northern haven. 
It seems as if he had determined to migrate, to crush 
the English usurper, and then to establish himself as 
Cnut had done in the richer southern kingdom. 
There must have been some knowledge in Norway of 
the state of things in England and Normandy, but 
this famous old adventurer was ready to fight who- 
ever he met, and the Black Raven was flying at his 
masthead. Bad omens cast their shadows over this 
great expedition of the last of the sea-kings, but 
away he sailed to the Shetland Islands and left his 
wife and daughters there, while he gained new allies ; 
and still farther south, Tostig came to meet him 
with a new army which he had gathered in Flan- 
ders. An Irish chieftain and a great lord from Ice- 
land were there too, and down they all came upon the 
defenceless country that was marked as their prey, 
burning and destroying church and castle and humble 
homestead, daring the Englishmen to come out and 
fight and drive them away again. We have no time 



292 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

to trace their lawless campaign. The two northern 
earls summoned their vassals, but in a few days after 
the Northmen had landed they had taken, without 
much trouble it appears to us, the city of York, and 
news was hurriedly sent to the king of England. 

What a grievous message ! Harold, the son of 
Godwine, was ill, his southern coast was undefended, 
still he could not forget the message that William 
had sent to him late in the summer by a spy who had 
crossed to Normandy, that the Normans would soon 
come and teach him how many they were and what 
they could do. But a holy abbot consoled the king 
by telling him that Eadward the Confessor had shown 
himself in a vision and assured his successor of cer- 
tain victory. 

The prophecy was proved to be true ; the king sum- 
moned his strength and his soldiers and marched 
to York. There King Harold was to set up his new 
kingdom ; he had not the desire for revenge that 
filled Tostig's breast, and was anxious to prove him- 
self a generous and wise ruler. As he came toward 
the walls which had been so easily won, the rival 
Harold's army comes in sight — first a great cloud of 
dust like a whirlwind, and next the shining spears 
prick through and glitter ominously. A little later 
Harold of England sends a message to his brother 
Tostig. He shall have again his kingdom of North- 
umberland if he will be loyal ; and Tostig sends back 
a message in his turn to ask what shall be the portion 
of Harold Hardrada. " Seven feet of_ English ground 
for his grave," says the other Harold, and the fight 
begins. 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 293 

Alas for the tall Northman, the winner of eighty 
castles from the Saracens, the scourge of Moslem 
and robber in Palestine ; the ally of Sicily, of Rus- 
sia, and the Greeks ! Alas for the kingdom he had 
lightly lost in Norway ! Alas for the wife and 
daughters who were watching all through those 
shortening September days in the Orkneys for the 
triumphant return of the fleet — for Harold the saga- 
man and sea-king, who built his hopes too high. He 
may be fierce with the old rage of the Berserkers, and 
lay sturdily about him with his heavy two-handed 
sword ; he may mow down great swaths of English- 
men like grain, but the moment comes when an 
arrow flies with its sharp whistle straight at his 
throat, and he falls dead, and his best fighters fall in 
heaps above him ; the flag of the Black Raven of 
Norway is taken. Tostig is dead, and Harold of 
England is winner of that great day at Stamford 
Bridge, the last great victory that he and his men 
would ever win, the last fight of England before the 
Conquest. Out of the crowd of ships that had come 
from the North only four a*nd twenty sailed away 
again, and Harold made peace with the Orkney-men 
and the Icelanders and the rest. Since that day 
there has been peace between England and the coun- 
tries of the Northern Seas. Harold's last victory 
was with the past, one might say, with the North- 
men of another age and time, as if the last tie of his 
country were broken with the old warfare and earlier 
enemies. New relationships were established, the 
final struggle for mastery was decided. The battle 
of Stamford Bridge might have been called a deadly 



294 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

game at jousting, and the English knight receives 
the prize and rides home the victor of the tourna- 
ment. Yet that very day of triumph saw the ap- 
proach of a new foe — the Norman ships full of horses 
and men are ready to put out for the English shore. 
Harold must fight another battle and lose it, and a 
new order of things must begin in Britain. The 
Northmen and the Normans ; it is a long step be- 
tween the two, and yet England's past and her future 
meet ; the swordsmen's arms that ache from one 
battle must try their strength again in another ; but 
the Normans bring great gifts at the point of their 
arrows — without them " England would have been 
mechanical, not artistic ; brave, not chivalrous ; the 
home of learning, not of thought." 

Three days after the fight Harold sits at a splendid 
banquet among his friends, and a breathless mes- 
senger comes in fleet-footed with bad news. Muster 
your axemen and lances, Harold, King of the Eng- 
lish ; the Normans have come like a flight of locusts 
and are landing on the coast of Kent. 



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XV. 

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 

" I see thy glory, like a shooting star, 

Fall to the base earth from the firmament ! 
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west." 

— Shakespeare. 

Early in the summer there was a sound of wood- 
chopping and a crash of falling trees in the forests of 
Normandy, and along her shores in the shipyards 
the noise of shipwrights' mallets began, and the 
forging of bolts and chains. The hemp-fields enlarge 
their borders, and catch the eye quickly with their 
brilliant green leafage. There is no better trade now 
than that of the armorer's, and many a Norman knight 
sees to it that the links of his chain-mail jerkin and 
helmet are strongly sewn, and that he is likely to be 
well defended by the clanking habit that he must 
buckle on. Horses and men are drilling in the 
castle yards, and every baron gathers his troop, and 
is stern in his orders and authority. The churches 
are crowded, the priests are urging the holy cause, 
and war is in everybody's mind. The cherry blos- 
soms whiten and fall, the apple-trees are covered 
with rosy snow, mid-summer sees the young fruit 
greaten on the boughs, the sun rides high in the sky, 

2 95 



296 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

and the soldiers' mail weighs heavy ; through the 
country-lanes go troops of footmen and horsemen. 
You can see the tips of their unstrung bows moving 
above the hedges, and their furled banners with 
heraldic device or pious seal. They are all going 
toward the sea, toward the mouth of the river Dive, 
The peasant women and children stand in their cot 
tage doors and watch the straggling processions on 
their way. It is indeed a cause to aid with one's 
prayers, this war against the heathen English. 

All summer long, armed men were collecting at 
William's head-quarters from every part of Normandy, 
or wherever his summons had wakened a favorable 
response. If we can believe the chroniclers, the army 
was well paid and well fed and kept in good order. 
It became a question which army would hold its 
ground longest ; Harold's, on the Sussex downs, or 
William's, by the Dive. At last, news was brought 
that the Englishmen were disbanded, then the French- 
men — as we begin to hear our Normans called, — the 
Frenchmen begin to make ready for their expedition. 
There may have been skirmishes by sea in the hot 
weather, but it was not until early autumn that Wil- 
liam gave orders to embark. There are different sto- 
ries about the magnitude of the force. The defeated 
party would have us believe that they were enor- 
mously overpowered, and so set the numbers very 
high ; the conquerors, on the other hand, insist that 
they had not quantity so much as quality to serve 
them in the fight, and that it was not the size of 
their army but the valor of it that won the day. 
We are told that there were six hundred and ninety- 



THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 



297 



six ships and fourteen thousand men ; we are told 
also that there were more than three thousand ships 
and sixty thousand men, all told ; and other accounts 
range between these two extremes. 

For a month the Norman army waited at the 
mouth of the Dive for a south wind, but no south 
wind blew, while an adverse storm scattered them 
and strewed the shore with Norman bodies. At last, 




NORMAN VESSEL. (FROM BAYEUX TAPESTRY.) 



the duke took advantage of a westerly breeze and 
set sail for St. Valery, off the coast of Ponthieu, from 
whence he hoped to go more easily over to England. 
At the famous abbey of St. Valery he was saying his 
prayers and watching the weather-cocks for fifteen 
days, and he and his captains made generous offer- 
ings at the holy shrines. The monks came out at 
last in solemn procession bearing their sacred relics, 
and the Norman host knelt devoutly and did homage. 



298 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

At Caen, in June, the two great minsters had been 
dedicated, and William and Matilda had given their 
young daughter Cecily to the service of God, to- 
gether with rich offerings of lands and money. 
In their own churches, therefore, and at many an- 
other Norman altar beside, prayer and praise never 
ceased in those days while Harold was marching to 
Stamford Bridge. 

At last, on Wednesday, the twenty-seventh of 
September, the wind went round to the southward, 
and the great fleet sailed. The soldiers believed 
that their prayers had been answered, and that they 
were the favorites of heaven. They crowded on 
board the transport-ships, and were heedless of every 
thing save that they were not left behind, and had 
their armor and weapons ready for use. The trum- 
pets were playing, their voices cried loud above the 
music that echoed back in eager strains from the 
shore. The horsemen shouted at their horses, and 
the open ships were plainer copies of the dragon- 
ships of old ; they carried gayly dressed gentlemen, 
and shining gonfanons, and thickets of glittering 
spears. The shields were rich with heraldic blazon- 
ing, and the golden ship, Mora, that the Duchess 
Matilda had given to the duke, shone splendid on 
the gray water, as just at evening William himself 
set sail and turned the gilded figure of a boy blowing 
an ivory trumpet, like some herald of certain vic- 
tory, toward the shore of Kent. The Pope's sacred 
banner was given to the welcome breeze, and WiK 
liam's own standard, figured with the three lions of 
Normandy, fluttered and spread itself wide. The 



THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 299 

colored sails looked gay, the soldiers sang and 
cheered, and away they went without a fear, these 
blessed Normans of the year 1066. On the Mora's 
masthead blazed a great lantern when the darkness 
fell. It was a cloudy night. 

In the early morning, the Mora being lighter-laden 
than the rest, found herself alone on the sea, out of 
sight of either land or ships, but presently the loiter- 
ing forest of masts rose into view. At nine o'clock 
William had landed at Pevensey on the Sussex 
shore. As he set foot for the second time on Eng- 
lish soil, he tripped and fell, and the bystanders 
gave a woful groan at such a disastrous omen. " By 
the splendor of God," cried the duke, in his favorite 
oath, " I have taken seizin of my kingdom ; see the 
earth of England in my two hands ! " at which ready 
turn of wit a soldier pulled a handful of thatch from 
a cottage roof and gave it to his master for a further 
token of proprietorship. This also was seizin of all 
that England herself embraced. 

There was nobody to hinder the Normans from 
landing or going where they pleased. At Pevensey 
they stayed only one clay for lack of supplies, and 
then set out eastward toward Hastings. In the 
Bayeux tapestry, perhaps the most reliable authority 
so far as it goes, there is an appealing bit of work 
that pictures a burning house with a woman and 
little child making their escape. The only places of 
safety, we are told elsewhere, were the churchyards 
and the churches. William's piety could hardly 
let him destroy even an enemy's sacred places of 
worship. 



300 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

The next few days were filled with uncertainty 
and excited expectancy. Clearly there was no army 
in the immediate neighborhood of Hastings; the 
Normans had that part of the world to themselves 
apparently, and hours and days went by leaving 
them undisturbed. Many a voice urged that they 
might march farther into the country, but their 
wary leader possessed his soul in patience, and at 
last came the news of the great battle in the north, 
of Harold's occupation of York, and the terrible dis- 
aster that had befallen the multitude of Harold 
Hardrada and Tostig, with their allies. Now, too, 
came a message to the duke from Norman Robert 
the Staller, who had stood by the Confessor's death- 
bed, and who kept a warm heart for the country of 
his birth, though he had become a loyal Englishman 
in his later years. Twenty thousand men have been 
slain in the north, he sends word to William ; the 
English were mad with pride and rejoicing. The 
Normans were not strong enough nor many enough 
to risk a battle ; they would be like dogs among 
wolves, and would be worse than overthrown. But 
William was scornful of such advice — he had come 
to fight Harold, and he would meet him face to 
face — he would risk the battle if he had only a sixth 
part as many men as followed him, eager as himself 
for his rights. 

Harold had bestirred his feasting and idle army, 
and held council of his captains at York. Normans 
and French and the men of Brittany had landed at 
Pevensey in numbers like the sand of the sea and 
the stars of heaven. If only the south wind had 



302 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

blown before, so that he might have met these in- 
vaders with his valiant army, too soon dispersed ! 
To have beaten back William and then have marched 
north to Stamford Bridge, that, indeed, would have 
been a noble record. Now the Normans were burn- 
ing and destroying unhindered in the south ; what 
should be done ? And every captain-baron of the 
English gave his word that he would call no man 
king but Harold the son of Godwine ; and with little 
rest from the battle just fought, they made ready to 
march to London. They knew well enough what 
this new invasion meant ; a prophetic dread filled 
their hearts, for it was not alone out of loyalty to 
Harold, but for love of England, that these men of 
different speech and instincts must be pushed off 
the soil to which they had no lawful claim. 

The fame of the northern victory brought crowds 
of recruits to the two banners, the Dragon of Wessex 
and Harold's own standard, the Fighting Man, as 
they were carried south again. Nothing succeeds 
like success ; if Harold could conquer the great Har- 
drada, it were surely not impossible to defeat the 
Norman duke. So the thanes and churchmen alike 
rallied to the Fighting Man. The earls of the north 
half promised to follow, but they never kept their 
word ; perhaps complete independence might follow 
now their half-resented southern vassalage. At 
least they did not mean to fight the battles of Wes- 
sex until there was no chance for evasion. But while 
Harold waited at London, men flocked together from 
the west and south, and he spent some days in his 
royal house at Westminster, heavy-hearted and full 



THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 3°3 

of care in his great extremity. He was too good a 
general, he had seen too much of the Norman sol- 
diery already to underrate their prowess in battle ; 
he shook his head gloomily when his officers spoke 
with scorn of their foes. One day he went on a pil- 
grimage to his own abbey at Waltham, and the 
monks' records say that, while he prayed there be- 
fore the altar and confessed his sins and vowed his 
fealty to God, who reigns over all the kingdoms 
of the earth ; while he lay face downward on the 
sacred pavement, the figure of Christ upon the cross 
bowed its head, as if to say again, " It is finished." 
Thurkill, the sacristan, saw this miracle, and knew 
that all hope must be put aside, and that Harold's 
cause was already lost. 

Next, the Norman duke sent a message to West- 
minster by a monk from the abbey of Fecamp, and 
there was parleying to and fro about Harold's and 
William's rival claims to the English crown. It 
was only a formal challenging and a final provocation 
to the Englishmen to come and fight for their leader, 
there where the invaders had securely entrenched and 
established themselves. " Come and drive us home 
if you dare, if you can ! " the Normans seemed to say 
tauntingly, and Harold saw that he must make haste 
lest the duke should be strengthened by reinforce- 
ments or have time to make himself harder to dis- 
lodge. William's demand that he should come down 
from the throne had been put into insolent words, 
and the Kentish people were being pitifully dis- 
tressed and brought to beggary by the host of 
foreigners. Yet Gyrth, the son of Godwine, begged 



304 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

his royal brother to stay in London ; to let him go 
and fight the Normans; and the people begged Har- 
old, at the last moment, to listen to such good 
counsel. But Harold refused ; he could never play 
coward's part, or let a man who loved him fight a 
battle in his stead ; and so when six days were spent 
he marched away to the fight where the two greatest 
generals the world held must match their strength 
one against the other, hand to hand. The King of 
England had a famous kingdom to lose, the Duke 
of Normandy had a famous kingdom to win. 

On the night before the fourteenth of October, the 
armies stood before each other near Hastings, on the 
field of Senlac, now called Battle. They made their 
camps hastily ; for hosts of them the rude shelters 
were a last earthly dwelling-place and habitation of 
earthly hopes or fears. Through the Norman en- 
campment went bands of priests, and the Normans 
prayed and confessed their sins. The Bishop of 
Coutances and Duke William's half-brother Odo, 
Bishop of Bayeux, both these high officials of the 
Church were there to stay the hands of their parish- 
ioners, and uphold the devout fighters in this cru- 
sade. Odo made the soldiers promise that whoever 
survived the morrow's battle would never again eat 
meat on Saturday; by such petty means he hoped 
to gain success at the hands of God who rules bat- 
tles on a larger scope, and who, through the quarrels 
and jealousies of men, brings slowly near the day 
when justice shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
They sang hymns; the watch-fires flickered and 
faded ; the gray morning dawned, and there in the 



THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 



305 



dim light stood the English on a hillside that jutted 
like a promontory into the marshy plain. A wood- 
land lay behind them, as if the very trees of the Eng- 
lish soil had mustered with the men ; in the thickest 
of the ranks was Harold's 
royal banner, the Fighting 
Man, and Harold himself 
stood close beside it with 
his brothers. The awful 
battle-axes, stained yet 
with the blood of those 
who died at Stamford 
Bridge, were in every 
man's hand, and every 
man was sheltered by 
his shield and kept si- 
lence. The Normans 
saw their foes stand wait- 
ing all together shoulder 
to shoulder, yet there was 
silence — an awful stillness 
in which to see so vast a 
host of men, and yet not 
hear them speak. The 
English had feasted that 
night, and sung their 
songs, and told the story 
of the northern fight. 

How their battle-axes looked gray and cold as the 
light dawned more and more ! The Normans knew 
that they might feel the bitter edges and the cleaving 
steel of them ere the day was spent. 




A NORMAN MINSTREL. 



306 THE STORY OF THE NORM A MS. 

Archers first, behind them the lancers, and behind 
all, the horsemen ; so the Normans were placed, high- 
hearted and bold with their great errand. To gain is 
better than to keep ; by night this England might be 
theirs in spite of the battle-axes. While the day 
was yet young, Taillefer, the minstrel, went riding 
boldly out from the ranks singing the song of Roland 
and Charlemagne at Roncesvalles, tossing his sword 
lightly and fast into the air and catching it deftly 
as he galloped to the English lines. There sat the 
duke on his horse that was a present from the king 
of Spain. His most holy relics were hung about his 
neck ; as he glanced from Taillefer along his army 
front he could see the Cotentin men, led by Neal of 
Saint Saviour, and his thoughts may have gone back 
quickly to the battle of his early youth at Val-es- 
dunes. What a mighty host had gathered at his 
summons ! All his Norman enemies were his follow- 
ers now ; he had won great championship, and if this 
day's fortune did not turn against him, the favor of 
the Holy Mother Church at Rome, the church of the 
apostles and martyrs, was won indeed ; and no gift in 
Christendom would be more proudly honored than 
this kingdom of England made loyal to the papal 
crown. William the Bastard, the dishonored, in- 
sulted grandson of a Falaise tanner, — William, the 
Duke of proud Normandy, at the head of a host, 
knocking at the gates of England ; nay, let us set the 
contrast wider yet, and show Rolf the Ganger, wet 
by salt spray on the deck of his dragon-ship, steering 
boldly southward, and William, Duke of the Nor- 
mans, rich and great, a master of masters, and soon 



THE BATTLE OP HASTINGS. 30? 

to be king of a wide and noble land, and winner 
of a great battle, if the saints whom he worshipped 
would fight upon his side. 

Taillefer has killed his two men, and been killed 
in his turn ; his song has ended, and his sword has 
dropped from his hand. The Normans cry " Dex 
aide ! Dex aide ! Ha Ron ! " and rush boldly up the 
hill to Harold's palisades. The arrows flew in show- 
ers, but the English stand solid and hew at the 
horsemen and footmen from behind their shields. 
Every man, even the king, was on foot ; they shouted 
" Out ! out ! " as the Normans came near ; they cried 
" God Almighty ! " and " Holy Cross ! " and at this 
sound Harold must have sadly remembered how the 
crucifix had bowed its head as he lay prone before 
it. And the fight grew hotter and hotter, the Nor- 
mans were beaten back, and returned again fiercely 
to the charge, down the hill, now up the hill over 
the palisades, like a pouring river of men, dealing 
stinging sword-thrusts — dropping in clumsy heaps of 
javelin-pricked and axe-smitten lifelessness ; from 
swift, bright-eyed men becoming a bloody mass to 
stumble over, or feebly crying for mercy at the feet 
that trampled them ; so the fight went on. Harold 
sent his captains to right and left, and William 
matched his captains against them valiantly. The 
Norman arrows were fallingblunted and harmless from 
the English shields, and he told the archers to shoot 
higher and aim so that the arrows might fall from 
above into the Englishmen's faces. There was no 
sound of guns or smoke of powder in that day, only 
a fearful wrangling and chopping, and a whir of 



308 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

arrow and lance and twang of bowstring. Yes, and 
a dolorous groaning as closer and closer the armies 
grappled with each other, hand to hand. 

Hour after hour the day spent itself, and the fight 
would never be done. There was a cry that the 
duke was dead, and he pulled off his helmet and hur- 
ried along the lines to put new courage into his men. 
The arrows were dropping like a deadly rain, the 
axemen and lancers were twisted and twined together 
like melted rock that burns and writhes its way 
through widening crack and crevice. The hot 
flood of Normans in chain-mail and pointed helmets 
sweeps this way, and the English with their leathern 
caps and their sturdy shoulders mailed like their 
enemies, swinging their long-handled weapons, pour 
back again, and so the day draws near its end, while 
the races mix in symbolic fashion in the fight as they 
must mix in government, in blood, in brotherhood, 
and in ownership of England while England stands. 

Harold has fallen, the gleaming banner of the 
Fighting Man, with its golden thread and jewelry, is 
stained with blood and mire. An arrow has gone 
deep into the king's eye and brain ; he has fallen, 
and his foes strike needless blows at his poor body, 
lest so valiant a spirit cannot be quieted by simple 
death. The English have lost the fight, there is a 
cry that they are flying, and the Normans hear it and 
gather their courage once more ; they rally and give 
chase. All at once there is a shout that thrills them 
through and through — a glorious moment when they 
discover that the day is won. William the Bastard 
is William the Conqueror, a sad word for many 



THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 



309 



English ears in days to come ; to us the sign of 
great gain that was and is England's — of the further 
advance of a kingdom already noble and strong. 
The English are strongest, but the Normans are quick- 
est. The battle has been given to Progress, and the 
Norman, not the Saxon, had the right to lead the way. 

But the field of 
Senlac makes a sad 
and sorry sight as the 
light of the short Oc- 
tober day is fading 
and the pale stars 
shine dimly through 
the chilly mist that 
gathers in from the 
sea. It is not like 
the bright Norman 
weather ; the slow 
breeze carries a faint, 
heavy odor of fallen 
leaves, and the very 
birds give awesome 
cries as they fly 
over the battle-field. 
There are many of 
the victors who think 
of the spoils of Eng- 
land, but some better 
men remember that 
it is in truth a mighty 
thing to have con- 
quered such a country. What will it mean in very 
truth that England is theirs ? 




SOLDIER IN CLOAK. 



3IO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

Later, William the Conqueror and his knights am 
resting and feasting and bragging of their deeds, 
there where Harold's standards were overthrown and 
the banner of the Three Lions of Normandy waves in 
the cool night wind. The living men look like 
butchers from the shambles, and the dead lie in 
heavy heaps ; here and there a white face catches a 
ray of light and appeals for pity in its dumb loneli- 
ness. There are groans growing ever fainter, and 
cries for help now and then, from a soldier whose 
wits have come back to him, though he lay stunned 
and maimed among those who are forever silent. 
There go weeping men and women with litters — they 
cannot find the king, and they must lead the woman 
who loved him best of all the earth, Edith the Swan- 
throated, through this terrible harvest-field to dis- 
cover his wounded body among the heaps of slain. 
He must be buried on the sea-shore, the Norman 
duke gives command to William Malet, and so guard 
forever the coast he tried to defend. 

The heralds of victory set sail exultantly across 
the brown water of the Channel ; the messengers of 
defeat go mourning to London and through the sor- 
rowful English towns. Harold the son of Godwine, 
and his brother, Gyrth the Good — yes, and the flower 
of all Southern England ; no man of Harold's own 
noble following lived to tell the story and to bewail 
this great defeat. There were some who lived to 
talk about it in after days ; — and there was one good 
joy in saying that as the Normans pursued them 
after the day was lost, they hid in ambush in the 
fens and routed their pursuers with deadly, unex- 



THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 31 1 

pected blows. But the country side looked on with 
dismay while William fought his way to London, 
not without much toil and opposition, but at last the 
humbled earldoms willingly or unwillingly received 
their new lord. Since Eadgar the underwitted Athel- 
ing was not fit for the throne, and the house of God- 
wine had fallen, William the Norman was made mon- 
arch of England, and there was a king-crowning in 
Westminster at Christmas-tide. 




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XVI. 

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

" Then in his house of wood with flaxen sails 
She floats, a queen, across the fateful seas." 

—A. F. 

RATHER than follow in detail the twenty-one 
years of William's English reign, we must content 
ourselves with a glance at the main features of it. 
We cannot too often remind ourselves of the re- 
semblance between the life and growth of a nation 
and the life and growth of an individual; but while 
William the Conqueror is in so many ways typical of 
Normandy, and it is most interesting to follow his 
personal fortunes, there are many developments of 
Norman character in general which we must not 
overlook. William was about forty years old when 
the battle of Hastings was fought and won ; Nor- 
mandy, too, was in her best vigor and full develop- 
ment of strength. The years of decadence must 
soon begin for both ; the time was not far distant 
when the story of Normandy ends, and it is only in 
the history of France and of England that the 
familiar Norman characteristics can be traced. Fore- 
most in vitalizing force and power of centralization 
and individuality, while so much of Europe was un- 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 313 

settled and misdirected toward petty ends, this 
duchy of Rolf the Ganger seems, in later years, like 
a wild-flower that has scattered its seed to every 
wind, and plants for unceasing harvests, but must 
die itself in the first frost of outward assailment 
and inward weakness. 

The march to London had been any thing but a 
triumphant progress, and the subjects of the new 
king were very sullen and vindictive. England was 
disheartened, her pride was humbled to the dust, and 
many of her leaders had fallen. In the dark winter 
weather there was sorrow and murmuring ; the later 
law of the curfew bell, a most wise police regulation, 
made the whole country a prison. 

A great deal of harrying had been thought neces- 
sary before the people were ready to come to William 
and ask him to accept the crown. William had a 
great gift for biding his time, and in the end the 
crown was proffered, not demanded. We learn that 
the folk thought better of their conqueror at last, 
that Cnut was remembered kindly, and the word 
went from mouth to mouth that England might do 
worse than take this famous Christian prince to rule 
over her. Harold had appealed to heaven when 
the fight began at Senlac, but heaven had given the 
victory to other hands. The northern earls had for- 
saken them, and at any rate the Norman devasta- 
tions must be stopped. If William would do for 
England what he had done for his own duchy and 
make it feared for valor and respected for its pros- 
perity like Normandy, who could ask more? So the 



3 14 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

duke called a formal council of his high noblemen 
and, after careful consideration, made known his 
acceptance ! There was a strange scene at the coro- 
nation in Westminster. Norman horsemen guarded 
the neighboring streets, a great crowd of spectators 
filled the church, and when the question was put to 
this crowd, whether they would accept William for 
their king, there was an eager shout of "Yea! yea! 
King William ! " Perhaps the Normans had never 
heard such a noisy outcry at a solemn service. 
Again the shout was heard, this time the same ques- 
tion had been repeated in the French tongue, and 
again the answer was " Yea ! yea ! " 

The guards outside thought there was some 
treachery within, and feared that harm might come to 
their leader, so, by way of antidote or revenge, they 
set fire to the buildings near the minster walls. Out 
rushed the congregation to save their goods or, it 
might be, their lives, while the ceremony went on 
within, and the duke himself trembled with appre- 
hension as he took the solemn oath of an English 
king, to do justice and mercy to all his people. 
There was a new crown to be put on, — what had be- 
come of the Confessor's ? — but at last the rite was 
finished and William, king of the English, with his 
priests and knights, came out to find a scene of ruin 
and disorder; it was all strangely typical — the make- 
shift splendors, the new order of church and state, 
the burning hatred and suspicions of that Christmas- 
tide. Peace on earth, good-will to men ! alas, it was 
any thing but that in the later years of William's 
reign. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 31 5 

No doubt he built high hopes and made deep 
plans for good governance and England's glory. He 
had tamed Normandy to his guiding as one tames a 
wild and fiery horse, and there seemed to be no 
reason why he could not tame England. In the be- 
ginning he attempted to prove himself lenient and 
kind, but such efforts failed ; it was too plain that 
the Normans had captured England and meant to 
enjoy the spoils. The estates belonging to the 
dead thanes and ealdormen, who fought with Harold, 
were confiscated and divided among the Normans: 
this was the fortune of war, but it was a bitter 
grievance and injustice. O, for another Godwine! 
cried many a man and woman in those days. O, 
for another Godwine to swoop down upon these 
foreign vultures who are tearing at England's heart ! 
But even in the Confessor's time there was little 
security for private property. We have even seen 
the Confessor's own wife banished from his side 
without the rich dowry she had brought him, and 
Godwine's estates had been seized and refunded again, 
as had many another man's in the reign of that pious 
king whom everybody was ready to canonize and 
deplore. 

After the king had given orders to his army 
to stop plundering and burning, there was a good 
deal of irregular depredation for which he was hardly 
responsible. He was really king of a very small part 
of England. The army must not be disbanded, it 
must be kept together for possible defence, but the 
presence of such a body of rapacious men, who 
needed food and lodging, and who were not content 



316 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

unless they had some personal gain from the rich 
country they had helped to win, could not help 
being disastrous. Yet there is one certain thing- 1 - 
the duke meant to be master of his new possessions, 
and could use Englishmen to keep his Norman fol- 
lowers in check, while he could indulge his own 
countrymen in their love of power and aggrandize- 
ment at England's expense. There are touching 
pictures of his royal progress through the country in 
the early part of his reign ; the widows of thanes 
and the best of the churls would come out with their 
little children, to crave mercy and the restitution of 
even a small part of their old estates to save them 
from beggary. Poor women ! it was upon them that 
the heaviest burden fell ; the women of a war-stricken 
country suffer by far the most from change and 
loss ; not the heroes who die in battle, or the 
heroes who live to tell the story of the fight, and 
who have been either victors or vanquished. Men 
are more reasonable ; they have had the recompense 
of taking part in the struggle. If they have been in 
the wrong or in the right, great truths have come 
home to them as they stood sword in hand. 

The Norman barons, who had followed their 
leader beyond the Channel, had been won by prom- 
ises, and these promises must be kept. They were 
made rich with the conquered lands, and given 
authority, one would think, to their heart's content. 
They were made the king's magistrates and counsel- 
lors, and as years went by there was more and more 
resentment of all this on the part of the English. 
They hated their Norman lords ; they hated the 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 317 

taxes which the king claimed. The strong point of 
the Saxon civilization was local self-government and 
self-dependence ; but the weak point was the lack of 
unity and want of proper centralization and superin- 
tendence. William was wise in overcoming this ; 
instead of giving feudalism its full sway and making 
his Norman barons petty monarchs with right of 
coinage and full authority over their own dominion, 
he claimed the homage and loyalty, the absolute 
allegiance of his subjects. But for his foresight in 
making such laws, England might have been such 
a kingdom as Charles the Simple's or Hugh Capet's, 
and hampered with feudal lords greater than their 
monarch in every thing but name. 

In England, at last, every man held his land 
directly from the king and was responsible to him. 
The Witanagemot was continued, but turned into 
a sort of feudal court in which the officials of the 
kingdom, the feudal lords, had places. The Witan 
became continually a smaller body of men, who were 
joined with those officers of the royal power higher 
than they. It must be remembered that the Con- 
queror did not make his claim to the throne because 
he had won his right by the sword. He always 
insisted that he was the lawful successor to 
Eadward, and the name of Harold the Usurper 
was omitted from the list of English kings. Follow- 
ing this belief or pretence he was always careful 
to respect the nationality of the country, and made 
himself as nearly as possible an Englishman. His 
plans for supplanting the weakness and insularity of 
many English institutions by certain Continental 



318 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

fashions, wrought a tremendous change, and put the 
undeveloped and self-centred kingdom that he had 
won, on a footing with other European powers. The 
very taxes which were wrung from the unwilling 
citizens, no doubt, forced them to wider enterprise 
and the expansion of their powers of resource. Much 
of England's later growth has sprung from seed 
that was planted in these years — this early spring' 
time of her prosperity, when William's stern hands 
swept from field and forest the vestiges of earlier 
harvests, and cleared the garden grounds into leafless 
deserts, only to make them ready for future crops. 

The very lowest classes were more fortunate under 
William's rule than they had been in earlier times. 
Their rights and liberties were extended, and they 
could claim legal defence against the tyrannies of 
their masters. But the upper ranks of people were 
much more dissatisfied and unhappy. The spirit of 
the laws was changed ; the language of the court 
was a foreign language ; and the modified feudalism 
of the king put foreigners in all high places, who 
could hold the confiscated estates, and laugh at the 
former masters now made poor and resourceless. 
The folk-land had become Terra Regis ; England 
was only a part of Normandy, and the king was 
often away, busier with the affairs of his duchy 
than of his kingdom. Yet, as had often happened 
before in this growing nation's lifetime, a sure process 
of amalgamation was going on, and though the fire 
of discontent was burning hot, the gold that was 
England's and the gold that was Normandy's were 
being melted together and growing into a greater 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. Z l 9 

treasure than either had been alone. We can best 
understand the individuality and vital force of the 
Norman people by seeing the difference their coming 
to England has made in the English character. We 
cannot remind ourselves of this too often. The 
Norman of the Conqueror's day was already a man 
of the world. The hindering conditions of English 
life were localism and lack of unity. We can see al- 
most a tribal aspect in the jealousies of the earldoms, 
the lack of sympathy or brotherhood between the 
different quarters of the island. William's earls were 
only set over single shires, and the growth of inde- 
pendence was rendered impossible ; and his greatest 
benefaction to his new domain was a thoroughly or- 
ganized system of law. As we linger over the ac- 
counts of his reign, harsh and cruel and unlovable 
as he appears, it is rather the cruelty of the surgeon 
than of a torturer or of a cut-throat. The presence 
of the Normans among the nations of the earth must 
have seemed particularly irritating and inflammatory, 
but we can understand, now that so many centuries 
have smoothed away the scars they left, that the 
stimulus of their energy and their hot ambition 
helped the rest of the world to take many steps 
forward. 

While we account for the deeds of the fighting 
Normans, and their later effects, we must not forget 
their praying brethren who stood side by side with 
them, lording it over the English lands and reaching 
out willing hands for part of the spoils. We must 
thank them for their piety and their scholarship, and 
for the great churches they founded, even while we 



320 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

laugh at the greed and wordliness under their monk- 
ish cloaks. Lanfranc was made bishop of Canter- 
bury, and wherever the Conqueror's standard was 
planted, wherever he gained foothold, as the tide of 
his military rule ebbed and flowed, he planted 
churches and monasteries. Especially he watched 
over his high-towered Battle Abbey, which marked 
the spot where the banner of the Fighting Man was 
defeated and the banner of the Three Lions of 
Normandy was set up in its place. 

Before we go further we must follow the king back 
to his duchy in the spring after that first winter in 
England. Three Englishmen were chosen to attend 
his royal highness, and although they might easily 
guess that there was something more than mere 
compliment in this flattering invitation, these 
northern earls, Eadwine, Morkere, and Waltheof 
(the Bear's great-grandson), were not anxious to 
hurry forward the open quarrel which William him- 
self was anxious to avoid. Nothing could have been 
more unsafe in the unsettled condition of England 
than to have left these unruly leaders to plot and 
connive during his absence ; besides, it would be a 
good thing to show such rough islanders the splen- 
dours of the Norman court. 

The Norman chroniclers are not often willing to 
admit that England was in any respect equal to 
their own duchy, but when they have to describe 
William's triumphant return, they forget their pru- 
dence and give glowing accounts of the treasure of 
gold and silver that he brings with him, and even 
the magnificent embroideries, tapestries and hang- 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 321 

ings, and clerical vestments, — though they have so 
lately tried to impress upon their readers that heath- 
en squalor of social life across the Channel which 
the Christian had sought to remedy. Church after 
church was richly endowed with these spoils, and 
the Conqueror's own Church of St. Stephen at Caen 
fared best of all. Beside the English wealth we 
must not forget the goods of Harold Hardrada, 
which had been brought with such mistaken confi- 
dence for the plenishing of his desired kingdom. 
There is a tradition of a mighty ingot of gold won 
in his Eastern adventures, so great that twelve 
strong youths could scarcely carry it. Eadwine and 
Morkere of Northumberland must have looked at 
that with regretful eyes. 

Whatever the English prejudice might have 
been, the Normans had every reason to be proud 
of their seventh duke. He had advanced their for- 
tunes in most amazing fashion, and they were proud 
of him indeed on the day when he again set his 
foot on Norman ground. The time of year was 
Lent. Spring was not yet come, but it might have 
been a summer festival, if one judged by the way 
that the people crowded from the farthest boundaries 
of the country to the towns through which William 
was to pass. It was like the glorious holidays of 
the Roman Empire. The grateful peasants fought 
and pushed for a sight of their leader. The world is 
never slow to do honor to its great soldiers and con- 
querors. The duke met his wife at Rouen, and that 
was the best moment of all ; Matilda had ruled 
Normandy wisely and ably during his five or six 



322 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

months' absence, with old Roger de Beaumont for 
her chief counsellor. 

The royal procession trailed its gorgeous length 
from church to church and from city to city about 
the duchy ; the spoils of England seemed inex- 
haustible to the wondering spectators, and those who 
had made excuse to lag behind when their bows and 
lances were needed, were ready enough now to clutch 
their hands greedily in their empty pockets and fol- 
low their valiant countrymen. William himself was 
not slow in letting the value of his new domain be 
known ; the more men the better in that England 
which might be a slippery prize to hold. He had 
many a secret conference with Lanfranc, who had 
been chief adviser and upholder of the invasion. 
The priest-statesman seems almost a greater man 
than the soldier-statesman ; many a famous deed of 
that age was Lanfranc's suggestion, but nobody 
knew better than these two that the conquest of 
England was hardly more than begun, and long and 
deep their councils must have been when the noise 
of shouting in the streets had ended, and the stars 
were shining above Caen. 

No city of Normandy seems more closely con- 
nected with those days than Caen. As one walks 
along its streets, beneath the high church towers and 
gabled roofs of the houses, it is easy to fancy that 
more famous elder generation of Normans alive 
again, to people Caen with knights and priests and 
minstrels of that earlier day. The Duchess Matilda 
might be alive yet and busy with her abbey church 
of Holy Trinity and her favorite household of nuns; 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 323 

the people shout her praises admiringly, and gaze at 
her lovingly as she passes through the street with 
her troop of attendants. Caen is prosperous and gay. 
" Large, strong, full of draperies and all sorts of 
merchandise ; rich citizens, noble dames, damsels, 
and fine churches," says Froissart years afterwards. 
Even this very year one is tempted to believe that 
one sees the same fields and gardens, the same 
houses, and hears the same bells that William the 
Conqueror saw and heard in that summer after he 
had become king of England. 

And in Bayeux, too, great portions of the ancient 
city still remain. There where the Northmen made 
their chief habitation, or in Rouen or Falaise, we can 
almost make history come to life. Perhaps the great 
tapestry was begun that very summer in Bayeux ; 
perhaps the company of English guests, some of 
those noble dames well-skilled in " English work " 
of crewel and canvas, were enticed by Bishop Odo 
into beginning that " document in worsted " which 
more than any thing else has preserved the true his- 
tory of the Conquest of England. Odo meant to 
adorn his new church with it, and to preserve the 
account of his own part in the great battle and its 
preliminaries, with the story of Harold's oath and 
disloyalty, and William's right to the crown. There 
is an Italian fashion of drawing in it — the figures are 
hardly like Englishmen or Normans in the way they 
stand or make gestures to each other in the rude 
pictures. Later history has associated the working 
of these more than fifteen hundred figures with 
Matilda and her maidens, as a tribute to the Con- 



324 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

queror's valor, but there are many evidences to the 
contrary. The old idea that the duchess and her 
women worked at the tapestry, and said their 
prayers while the army had gone to England, seems 
improbable the more one studies the work itself. 
Yet tradition sometimes keeps the grain of truth in 
its accumulation of chaff. There is no early record 
of it, and its historical value was rediscovered only 
in 1724 by a French antiquary. The bright worsteds 
of it still keep their colors on the twenty-inches wide 
strip of linen, more than two hundred feet in length. 
Odo is said to have given it to his chapter at 
Bayeux, and it has suffered astonishingly little from 
the ravages of time. 

But we must return to Norman affairs in England. 
Odo himself and William Fitz-Osbern had been 
made earls of the Counties Palatine of Kent and 
Hereford, and were put in command in William's 
absence. The rapacity of these Norman gentlemen 
was more than their new subjects could bear. The 
bishop at least is pretty certain to have covered his 
own greedy injustice by a plea that he was following 
out the king's orders. Revolt after revolt troubled 
the peace of England. Harold's two sons were 
ready to make war from their vantage-ground in 
Ireland ; the Danes and Scots were also conspiring 
against the new lord of the English. At last some 
of the Normans themselves were traitorous and 
troublesome, but William was fully equal to such 
minor emergencies as these. He went back to Eng- 
land late in 1067, after spending the summer and 
autumn in Normandy, and soon found himself busy 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 



325 



enough in the snarl of revolt and disagreement. One 
trouble followed another as the winter wore away, 
The siege of Exeter was the most conspicuous event. 
but here too William was conqueror, and South- 
western England was forced to submit to his rule. 
At Easter-tide a stately embassy was sent to bring 
over the Duchess Matilda from Normandy, and when 
it returned she was hallowed as Queen by Ealdred 




DEATH OF HAROLD. BAYEUX TAPESTRY. 

the archbishop. Let us hope that, surrounded by 
her own kindred and people, she did not see the sor- 
rowful English faces of those women who had lost 
husband and home together, and who had been bereft 
of all their treasures that strangers might be enriched. 
There is a curious tradition that a little while after 
this, much woe was wrought because those other Nor- 
man ladies, whose lords had come over to England to 



326 



THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 



fight and remained to plunder, refused to join them, 
because they were not fond of the sea, and thought 
that they were not likely to find better fare and 
lodging. Very likely the queen's residence in her 

new possessions had 
a good effect, but 
some of the Norman 
men were obliged to 
return altogether, 
their wives having 
threatened to find 
new partners if they 
were left alone any 
longer. It may have 
been an excuse or a 
jest, because so many 
naturally desired to- 
see their own coun- 
try again. 

Both Saxons and 
Normans paid great 
deference to the in- 
stinctive opinions ol 
women. When such 
serious matters as go- 
ing to war were before 
them, a woman's unreasoning prejudice or favor of 
the enterprise was often taken into account. They 
seem to have almost taken the place of the ancient 
auguries! However, it is not pleasant to feminine 
conceit to be told directly that great respect was also 
paid to the neighing of horses ! 




NORMAN LADY. COTTON MSS. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 327 

Henry, the king's youngest son, was born not 
long after the queen's arrival, and born too in 
Northern England the latest and hardest won at that 
time of the out-lying provinces. The very name that 
was given to the child shows a desire for some degree 
of identification with new interests. William and 
Matilda certainly had England's welfare at heart, for 
England's welfare was directly or indirectly their own, 
and this name was a sign of recognition of the here- 
ditary alliance with Germany ; with the reigning king 
and his more famous father. There is nothing more 
striking than the traditional slander and prejudice 
which history preserves from age to age. Seen by 
clearer light, many reported injustices are explained 
away. If there was in England then, any thing like the 
present difficulty of influencing public opinion to quick 
foresight and new decisions, the Conqueror and Bald- 
win of Flanders' daughter had any thing but an easy 
path to tread. Selfish they both may have been, and 
bigoted and even cruel, but they represented a better 
degree of social refinement and education and enlight- 
enment. Progress was really what the English of 
that day bewailed and set their faces against, though 
they did not know it. William and Matilda had to 
insist upon the putting aside of worn-out opinions, 
and on coming to England had made the strange 
discovery that they must either take a long step 
backward or force their subjects forward. They 
were not conscious reformers ; they were not in- 
fallibly wise missionaries of new truth, who tried ac- 
tually to give these belated souls a wider outlook 
upon life, but let us stop to recognize the fact that no 



328 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

task is more thankless than his who is trying to go in 
advance of his time. Men have been burnt and hanged 
and disgraced and sneered at for no greater crime ; in 
fact, there is nothing that average humanity so much 
resents as the power to look ahead and to warn others 
of pitfalls into which ignorant shortsightedness is 
likely to tumble. Nothing has been so resented and 
assailed as the thorough survey of England, and the 
record of its lands and resources in the Domesday 
Book. Yet nothing was so necessary for any sort of 
good government and steady oversight of the na- 
tion's affairs. We only wonder now that it was not 
made sooner. The machinery of government was of 
necessity much ruder then. No doubt William's tyr- 
anny swept its course to and fro like some Jugger- 
naut car regardless of its victims, yet for England a 
unified and concentrated force of government was 
the one thing to be insisted, upon ; Harold and his 
rival earls might have been hindering, ineffectual 
rulers of the country's divided strength and jealous 
partisanship. 

Yet the future right direction and prosperity of 
England was poor consolation to the aching hearts 
of the women of that time, or the landless lords who 
had to stand by and see new masters of the soil take 
their places. What was won by William's sword 
must be held by his sword, and the more sullen and 
rebellious the English grew, the more heavily they 
were taxed and the faster the land was rid of them. 
They were chased into the fens, and pursued with 
fire and bloodshed. " England was made a great 
grave," says Dickens, " and men and beasts lay dead 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 



329 



together." The immediate result of the Conqueror's 
rule was like fire and plough and harrow in a piece 
of new land. 

It was a sad and tiresome lifetime, that of the 
Conqueror ; just or unjust toward his new sub- 
jects, they hated him bitterly ; his far-sighted plans 
for the country's growth and development gave as 





BATTLE AXES. BAYEUX TAPESTRY. 



much displeasure as the smallest of his personal 
prejudices or selfish whims. Every man's hand was 
against him, and hardly an eye but flashed angrily at 
the sight of the king. Eadward the Confessor, pious 
ascetic, and relic-worshipper, had loved the chase as 
well as this warlike successor of his ever loved it, 
and had been very careful of his royal hunting- 



330 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

grounds, but nobody raised an outcry against his un- 
saintly love of slaughtering defenceless wild crea- 
tures, or thought him the less a meek and gentle 
soul, beloved by angels and taught by them in 
visions. But ever since, the Conqueror's love of 
hunting has been an accusation against him as if he 
were the only man guilty of it, and his confiscation 
of the Hampshire lands to make new forest seemed 
the last stroke that could be borne. The peasants' 
cottages were swept away and the land laid waste. 
Norman was master and Englishman was servant. 
The royal train of horses and dogs and merry hunts- 
men in gay apparel clattered through the wood, and 
from hiding-places under the fern men watched them 
and muttered curses upon their cruel heads. There 
were already sixty-eight royal forests in different 
parts of the kingdom before New Forest was begun. 
Everybody thought that England had never seen 
such dark days, but so everybody thought when the 
Angles and Saxons and Jutes came, and even so 
vigorous a pruning and digging at the roots as this 
made England grow the better. 

Large tracts of the hunting-grounds had been un- 
fit for human habitation, and it was better to leave 
them to the hares and deer. Wide regions of the 
country, too, were occupied by the lowest class of 
humanity, who lived almost in beastly fashion, with- 
out chance of enlightenment or uplifting. They 
were outlaws of the worst sort who could not be 
brought into decent order or relationship with re- 
spectable society, and it was better for these to be 
chased from their lairs and forced to accept the com- 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 33 1 

panionship of townsfolk. With these, however, there 
were many who suffered undeserved. Among the 
rank weeds of England there were plucked many 
blooming things and useful growths of simple, long- 
established home-life and domestic affection. When 
fire was leaping high at the city gates it is impossible 
not to regret its enmity against dear and noble 
structures of the past, even though it cleared the 
way for loftier minsters and fairer dwelling-places. 
In criticising and resenting such a reign as William 
the Norman's over England, we must avoid a danger 
of not seeing the hand of God in it, and the evi- 
dences of an overruling Providence, which works in 
and through the works of men and sees the end of 
things from the beginning as men cannot. There 
may be overstatement in William of Malmesbury's 
account of the bad condition of the country at the 
time of the Conquest, but the outlines of it cannot 
be far from right. " In process of time," he says, 
" the desire after literature and religion had decayed 
for several years before the arrival of the Normans. 
The clergy, contented with a very slight degree of 
learning, could scarcely stammer out the words of 
the sacraments, and a person who understood gram- 
mar was an object of wonder and astonishment. The 
nobility were given up to luxury and wantonness. 
The commonalty, left unprotected, became a prey 
to the most powerful, who amassed fortunes by either 
seizing on their property or selling their persons into 
foreign countries ; although it be an innate quality 
of this people to be more inclined to revelling than 
to the accumulation of wealth. Drinking was a uni- 



33^ THE STORY OF THE NORMA NS. 

versal practice, in which they passed whole nights, as 
well as days. They consumed their whole substance 
in mean, despicable houses, unlike Normans and 
French, who, in noble and splendid mansions, lived 
with frugality." " There cannot be a doubt," says 
Mr. Bruce in his interesting book about the Bayeux 
tapestry, " that by the introduction of the refine- 
ments of life the condition of the people was im- 
proved, and that a check was given to the grosser 
sensualities of our nature. Certain it is that learning 
received a powerful stimulus by the Conquest. At 
the period of the Norman invasion a great intellectual 
movement had commenced in the schools on the 
Continent. Normandy had beyond most other parts 
profited by it. William brought with him to Eng- 
land some of the most distinguished ornaments of 
the school of his native duchy ; the consequence of 
this was that England henceforward took a higher 
walk in literature than she had ever done before." 
One great step was the freeing of the lower classes; 
there was one rank of serfs, the churls, who were at- 
tached to the land, and were transferred with it, 
without any power of choosing their employer or 
taking any steps to improve their condition. Another 
large class, the thews, were the absolute property of 
their owners. William's law that every slave who 
had lived unchallenged a year and a day in any city 
or walled town in the kingdom should be free for- 
ever, was, indeed, "a door of hope to many," besides 
the actual good effects of town life, the natural 
rivalry and promotion of knowledge, the stimulus 
given to the cultivation and refinements of social 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 333 

life. He protected the early growth of a public 
sentiment, which was finally strong enough to ven- 
ture to assert its rights and to claim recognition. 
He relentlessly overthrew the flourishing slave-trade 
of the town of Bristol and no doubt made many 
enemies by such an act. 

Whatever may have been the king's better nature 
and earlier purposes in regard to his kingdom and 
duchy, as he grew older one finds his reputation 
growing steadily worse. He must have found the 
ruling of men a thankless task, and he apparently 
cared less and less to soften or control the harsh- 
ness of his underrulers and officers. His domestic 
relations had always been a bright spot in his stern, 
hard life, but at length even his beloved wife Matilda 
no longer held him first, and grieved him by favoring 
their troublesome son Robert, who was her darling 
of all their children. Robert and his mother had been 
the nominal governors of Normandy when he was 
still a child and his father was away in England. 
They seem to have been in league ever afterward, 
for when Robert grew up he demanded Normandy 
outright, which made his father angry, and the instant 
refusal provoked Master Curt-hose to such an extent 
that he went about from court to court in Europe 
bewailing the injustice that had been shown him. 
He was very fond of music and dancing, and spent a 
great deal of money, which the queen appears to 
have been always ready to send him. He was gifted 
with a power of making people fond of him, though 
he was not good for very much else. 

After a while William discovered that there was a 



334 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

secret messenger who carried forbidden supplies to 
the rebellious prince, and the messenger happily had 
time to betake himself to a convenient convent and 
put on the dress and give, let us hope, heart-felt 
vows of monkhood. This is what Orderic Vitalis 
reports of a meeting between the king and queen : 
" Who in the world," sighs the king, " can expect to 
find a faithful and devoted wife ? The woman whom 
I loved in my soul, and to whom I entrusted my 
kingdom and my treasures, supports my enemies; 
she enriches them with my property ; she secretly 
arms them against my honor — perhaps my life." 
And Matilda answered : " Do not be surprised, I 
pray you, because I love my eldest born. Were 
Robert dead and seven feet below the sod, and my 
blood could raise him to life, it should surely flow. 
How can I take pleasure in luxury when my son is 
in want ? Far from my heart be such hardness ! 
Your power cannot deaden the love of a mother's 
heart." The king did not punish the queen, we are 
assured gravely ; and Robert quarrelled with his 
brothers, and defied his father, and won his mother's 
sympathy and forbearance to the end. He found 
the king of France ready to uphold his cause by 
reason of the old jealousy of William's power, and 
while he was ensconced in the castle of Gerberoi, 
and sallying out at his convenience to harry the 
country, William marched to attack him, and the 
father and son fought hand to hand without know- 
ing each other until the king was thrown from his 
horse. Whereupon Robert professed great contri- 
tion, and some time afterward, the barons having 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 335 

interceded and Matilda having prayed and wept, 
William consented to a reconciliation, and even 
made his son his lieutenant over Normandy and 
Brittany. 

In 1083 the queen died, and there was nobody to 
lift a voice against her prudence and rare virtue, or 
her simple piety. There was no better woman in any 
convent cell of Normandy, than the woman who had 
borne the heavy weight of the Norman crown, and 
who had finished the sor- 
ry task as best she could, 
of reigning over an alien, 
conquered people. The 
king's sorrow was piteous 
to behold, and not long 
afterward their second 
son, Richard, was killed in 
the New Forest, a place 
of misfortune to the royal „_^| 
household. Another 
trouble quickly followed, JL 
which not only hurt the — "^ 
king's feelings, but made ^~ -~ 
him desperately angry. 

1T7-11- u J t. ODO, BISHOP OF BAYEUX. 

William had been very 
kind to all his kinsfolk on his mother's side, and 
especially to his half-brother, Odo, the Bishop of 
Bayeux. He had loaded him with honors, and 
given him, long ago, vice-regal authority in England. 
Even this was not enough for such an aspiring ec- 
clesiastic, and, under the pretence of gathering tax- 
money (no doubt insisting that it was to serve 




33^ THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

the miserliness and greed of the king), he carried 
on a flourishing system of plundering. After a 
while it was discovered that he had an ambition 
to make himself Pope of Rome, and was using 
his money for bribing cardinals and ingratiating 
himself with the Italian nobles. He bought himself 
a palace in Rome and furnished it magnificently, 
and began to fit out a fleet of treasure-ships at the 
Isle of Wight. One day when they were nearly 
ready to set sail, and the disloyal gentlemen who 
were also bound on this adventure were collected 
into a comfortable group on shore, who should appear 
among them but William himself. The king sternly 
related what must have been a familiar series of cir- 
cumstances to his audience : Odo's disloyalty when 
he had been entirely trusted, his oppression of Eng- 
land, his despoiling of the churches and the confisca- 
tion of their lands and treasures, lastly that he had 
even won away these knights to go to Rome with 
him ; men who were sworn to repulse the enemies 
of the kingdom. 

After Odo's sins were related in detail, he was 
seized, but loudly lamented thereat, declaring that 
he was a clerk and a minister of the Most High, and 
that no bishop could be condemned without the 
judgment of the Pope. The people who stood by 
murmured anxiously, for nobody knew what might 
be going to happen to them also. Crafty William 
answered that he was seizing neither clerk, nor prel- 
ate, nor Bishop of Bayeux, only his Earl of Kent, 
his temporal lieutenant, who must account to him 
for such bad vice-regal administration, and for four 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 337 

years after that Odo was obliged to content himself 
with close imprisonment in the old tower of Rouen. 

Those four years were in fact all that remained of 
the Conqueror's earthly lifetime, and dreary years 
they were. In 1087 William returned to Normandy 
for the last time. The French king was making 
trouble ; some say that the quarrel began between 
the younger members of the family, others that 
Philip demanded that William should do homage for 
England. Ordericus Vitalis, the most truthful of 
the Norman historians, declares that the dispute was 
about the proprietorship of the French districts of 
the Vexin. 

The Conqueror was an old man now, older than 
his years; he had never quite, recovered from his 
fall when Robert unhorsed him at the castle of 
Gerberoi ; besides he had suffered from other illness, 
and had grown very stout, and the doctors at Rouen 
were taking him in charge. The king of France 
joked insolently about his illness, and at the end of 
July William started furiously on his last campaign, 
and no doubt took vast pleasure in burning the city 
of Mantes. When the fire was down he rode through 
the conquered town, his horse stepped among 
some smouldering firebrands and reared, throw- 
ing his clumsy rider suddenly forward against the 
high pommel of the saddle, a death-blow from 
which he was never to recover. He was carried 
back to Rouen a worse case for the doctors' skill 
than ever, and presently fever set in, and torture fol- 
lowed torture for six long weeks. The burning fever, 
the midsummer heat, the flattery or neglect of his 



338 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

paid attendants; how they all reminded him and 
made him confess at last his new understanding and 
sorrow for the misery he had caused to many another 
human being ! Yet we can but listen forgivingly as 
he says : " At the time my father went of his own 
will into exile, leaving to me the Duchy of Nor- 
mandy, I was a mere child of eight years, and from 
that day to this I have always borne the weight 
of arms." 

The three sons, Rufus William, Robert Curt-hose, 
and Henry Beauclerc, were all eager to claim their 
inheritance, but the king sends for Anselm, the holy 
abbot, and puts them aside while he makes confes- 
sion of his sins and bravely meets the prospect 
of speedy death. He gives directions concerning the 
affairs of England and Normandy, gives money and 
treasure to poor people and the churches ; he even 
says that he wishes to rebuild the churches which 
were so lately burnt at Mantes. Then he summons 
his sons to his bedside and directs those barons and 
knights who were present to be seated, when, if we 
may believe Ordericus the Chronicler, the Conqueror 
made an eloquent address, reviewing his life and 
achievements and the career of many of his com- 
panions. The chronicle writers had a habit of 
putting extremely pious and proper long speeches 
into the mouths of dying kings, and as we read 
these remarks in particular we cannot help a suspi- 
cion that the old monk sat down in his cell some 
time afterward and quietly composed a systematic 
summary of what William would have said, or ought 
to have said if he could. Yet we may believe in the 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 339 

truth of many sentences. We do not care for what he 
expressed concerning Mauger or King Henry, the 
battle of Mortemer or Val-es-dunes, but when he 
speaks of his loyalty to the Church and his friendship 
with Lanfranc, and Gerbert, and Anselm, of his 
having built seventeen monasteries and six nun- 
neries, " spiritual fortresses in which mortals learn 
to combat the demons and lusts of the flesh " ; 
when he tells his sons to attach themselves to men 
of worth and wisdom and to follow their advice, to 
follow justice in all things and spare no effort to 
avoid wickedness, to assist the poor, infirm, and 
honest, to curb and punish the proud and selfish, to 
prevent them from injuring their neighbors, devoutly 
to attend holy church, to prefer the worship of God 
to worldly wealth ; — when he says these things we 
listen, and believe that he was truly sorry at last for 
the starving homeless Englishmen who owed him 
their death, for even the bitter resentment he 
showed for the slaughter of a thousand of his brave 
knights within the walls of Durham. He dares not 
give the ill-gotten kingdom of England to anybody 
save to God, but if it be God's will he hopes that 
William Rufus may be his successor. Robert may 
rule Normandy. Henry may take five thousand 
pounds' weight of silver from the treasury. It is 
true that he has no land to dwell in, but let him rest 
in patience and be willing that his brothers should 
precede him. By and by he will be heir of every- 
thing. 

At last the king unwillingly gives permission for 
Odo's release along with other prisoners of state. 



34° THE STORY OF THE NORMAN: . 

He prophesies that Odo will again disturb the peace 
and cause the death of thousands, and adds that the 
bishop does not conduct himself with that chastity 
and modesty which become a minister of God. For 
a last act of clemency he gives back to Baudri, the 
son of Nicolas, all his lands, " because without per- 
mission he quitted my service and passed over into 
Spain. I now restore them to him for the love 
of God ; I do not believe that there is a better 
knight under arms than he, but he is changeable and 
prodigal, and fond of roving into foreign countries." 

On the morning of the eighth of September the 
great soul took its flight. The king was lying in rest- 
less, half-breathless sleep or stupor when the cathe- 
dral bells began to ring, and he opened his eyes ancf 
asked what time it was. They told him it was the 
hour of prime. " Then he called upon God as far 
as his strength sufficed, and on our holy lady, the 
blessed Mary, and so departed while yet speaking, 
without any loss of his senses or change of speech." 

" At the time when the king departed this world, 
many of his servants were to be seen running up and 
down, some going in, others coming out, carrying off 
the rich hangings and the tapestry, and whatever 
they could lay their hands upon. A whole day 
passed before the corpse was laid upon its bier, for 
they who were wont before to fear him now left him 
lying alone. But when the news spread much people 
gathered together, and bishops and barons came in 
long procession. The body was well tended and 
carried to Caen as he had before commanded. There 
was no bishop in the province, nor abbot, nor noble 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 34 1 

prince, who did not go to the burying if he could, 
and there were besides many monks, priests, and 
clerks." 

So writes Master Wace in his long rhyme of the 
Conquest ; but the rhyme does not end as befits the 
Conqueror's fame. The chanting monks had hardly 
set the body down within the church, at the end of 
its last journey, when there was a cry of fire without, 
and all the people ran away and left the church 
empty save for the few monks who stayed beside 
the bier. When the crowd returned the service 
went on again, but just as the grave was ready a 
vavasour named Ascelin, the son of Arthur, pushed 
his way among the bishops and barons, and mounted 
a stone to make himself the better heard — " Listen 
to me, ye lords and clerks ! " he cries ; " ye shall not 
bury William in this spot. This church of St. 
Stephen is built on land that he seized from me and 
my house. By force he took it from me, and I claim 
judgment. I appeal to him by name that he do me 
right." 

" After he had said this he came down. Forth- 
with arose great clamor in the church, and there 
was such tumult that no one could hear the other 
speak. Some went, others came ; and all marvelled 
that this great king, who had conquered so much 
and won so many cities and so many castles, could 
not call so much land his own as his body might be 
covered in after death." 

We cannot do better than end with reading the 
Saxon chronicle, which is less likely to be flattering 
than the Norman records. 



;54 2 THE STORY OE THE NORMANS. 

" Alas, how false and unresting is this earth's 
weal ! He that erst was a rich king, and lord of 
many lands ; had then of all his lands but seven feet 
space ; and he that was once clad with gold and 
gems, lay overspread with mold ! If any one wish 
to know what manner of man he was, or what wor- 
ship he had, or of how many lands he was the lord, 
then will we write of him as we have known him ; 
for we looked on him and somewhile dwelt in his 
herd. 

" This King William that we speak about was a 
very wise man and very rich ; more worshipped, and 
stronger than any of his foregangers were. He was 
mild to the good men that loved God, and beyond 
all metes stark to those who withsaid his will. On 
that same ground where God gave him that he should 
win England, he reared a noble minster and set 
monks there and well endowed it. 

" Eke he was very worshipful. Thrice he wore 
his king-helm (crown), every year as oft as he was in 
England. At Easter he wore it at Winchester ; at 
Pentecost at Westminster ; at midwinter at Glou- 
cester, and then were with him all the rich men over 
all England : archbishops and diocesan bishops ; ab- 
bots and earls ; thanes and knights. Truly he was 
so stark a man and wroth that no man durst do any 
thing against his will. He had earls in his bonds 
who had done against his will. Bishops he set off 
their bishoprics, and abbots off their abbacies, and 
thanes in prison. And at last he did not spare his 
brother Odo ; him he set in prison. Betwixt other 
things we must not forget the good peace that he 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 343 

made in this land, so that a man that was worth 
aught might travel over the kingdom unhurt with 
his bosom full of gold. And no man durst slay 
another man though he had suffered never so mickle 
evil from the other. 

" He ruled over England, and by his cunning he 
had so thoroughly surveyed it, that there was never 
a hide of land in England that he wist not both who 
had it and what its worth was, and he set it down in 
his writ. Wales was under his weald, and therein 
he wrought castles ; and he wielded Manncynn with- 
al. Scotland he subdued by his mickle strength. 
Normandy was his by kin — and over the earldom 
that is called Mans he ruled. And if he might have 
lived yet two years he had won Ireland, and without 
any armament. 

" Truly in his time men had mickle taxing and many 
hardships. He let castles be built, and poor men 
were sorely taxed. The king" (we might in justice 
read oftener the king's officers) — " The king was so 
very stark, and he took from his subjects many 
marks of gold and many hundred pounds of silver, 
and that he took of his people some by right and 
some by mickle unright, for little need. He was 
fallen into covetousness, and greediness he loved 
withal. 

"The king and the head men loved much, and over 
much, the getting in of gold and silver, and recked 
not how sinfully it was got so it but came to 
them. 

" He set many deer-friths and he made laws there- 
with, that whosoever should slay hart or hind, him 



344 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

man should blind. And as he kept to himself the 
slaying of the harts, so eke did he the boars. He 
loved the high deer as much as if he were their 
father. Eke he set as to the hares that they should 
go free. His rich men bemoaned, and his poor men 
murmured, but he recked not the hatred of them all, 
and they must follow the king's will if they would 
have lands or goods or his favor. 

" Wa-la-wa ! that any man should be so moody, so 
to upheave himself and think himself above all other 
men ! May God Almighty have mild-heartedness 
on his soul and give him forgiveness of his sins ! 
These things we have written of him both good and 
eVil, that men may choose the good after their good- 
ness, and withal flee from evil, and go on the way 
that leadeth all to heaven's kingdom. " 



XVII. 

KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 

" Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring, 
Man's senseless uproar mingling with his toil, 
Still do thy quiet ministers move on." 

— Matthew Arnold. 

WILLIAM RUFUS hurried away to claim the king- 
dom of England before his father died. Robert was 
at Abbeville, some say, with his singers and jesters, 
making merry over the prospect of getting the duke- 
dom. Henry had put his five thousand pounds of 
silver into a strong box and gone his ways likewise. 
Normandy was in the confusion that always befell a 
country in those days while one master had put off 
his crown and the next had not put it on. There 
were masses being said in the Norman churches for 
the good of the Conqueror's soul, and presently, as 
the autumn days flew by and grew shorter and 
shorter, news was received that the English had 
received William Rufus and made him king with 
great rejoicing. There was always much to hope 
from the accession of a new monarch ; he was sure 
to make many promises, and nobody knew that he 
would not keep every one of them. 

But neither in England nor Normandy did the 
345 



346 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

outlook promise great security. Robert was made 
duke, and Robert had plenty of friends, whose love 
and favor were sure to last as long as his money held 
out. He had a better heart than his brothers, but 
he was not fit for a governor. " Robert, my eldest- 
born, shall have Normandy and Maine," the Con- 
queror had told his barons on his death-bed. " He 
shall serve the king of France for the same. There 
are many brave men in Normandy ; I know none 
equal to them. They are noble and valiant knights, 
conquering in all lands whither they go. If they 
have a good captain, a company of them is made to 
be dreaded, but if they have not a lord whom they 
fear, and who governs them severely, the service 
they render will soon be but poor. The Normans 
are worth little without strict justice ; they must be 
bent and bowed to their ruler's will, and whoso holds 
them always under his foot and curbs them tightly, 
may get his business well done by them. Haughty 
are they and proud, boastful and arrogant ; difficult 
to govern, and needing to be at all times kept under, 
so that Robert will have much to do and to provide 
in order to manage such a people." 

The dying king may have smiled grimly at the 
thought that Robert's ambition knew not what it 
asked. The gay gentleman had given his father 
trouble enough, but the weight of Normandy should 
be his to carry. The red prince, William, had been 
a dutiful son, and he wished him joy of England 
He was order-loving, and had a head for governing. 
" Poor lads ! " the old father may have sighed more 
than once. It was all very well to be princes and 



KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 2>47 

knights and gay riders and courtiers, but the man 
who has a kingdom to govern must wend his ways 
alone, with much hindrance and little help. 

The two courts bore little likeness to the Con- 
queror's as time went on, and there was endless dis- 
sension among the knights. In England the Nor- 
mans complained greatly of the division of the 
kingdom and the duchy. Odo, who had regained 
his earldom of Kent, was full of mischievous, treach- 
erous plans, and had no trouble in persuading other 
men that they stood no chance of holding their 
lands or keeping their rights under Rufus ; it 
would be much better to overthrow him and to do 
homage to Robert of Normandy in the old fashion. 
Robert was careless and easy, and William was 
strong and self-willed. Robert was ready to favor 
this party at once, and after a while William dis- 
covered what was going on, and found the rebels 
under Odo were fortifying their castles and winning 
troops of followers to their side — in fact, England 
was all ready for civil war. The king besieged Odo 
forthwith in the city of Rochester, and there was a 
terrible end to the revolt. Robert had been too lazy 
or too inefficient to keep his promise of coming to 
the aid of his allies, and disease broke out in the gar- 
rison and raged until Odo sent messengers to ask 
forgiveness, and to promise all manner of loyalty and 
penitence. The king was in a state of fury, and 
meant to hang the leaders of the insurrection and 
put the rest to death by the most ingenious tortures 
that could be invented. At last, however, his own 
barons and officers made piteous pleas for the lives 



348 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

of their friends and relatives, and in the end they 
were driven out and deprived of their English 
estates, and Odo was altogether banished from the 
country. No longer an earl, he went back much 
humbled to his bishopric of Bayeux, which Robert 
had been foolish enough to restore to him. But the 
intrigues went on. The Norman barons in England 
were separated from their hereditary possessions in 
Normandy, and William Rufus owed the safety of 
his crown to the upholding of the English. Presently 
he went over to Normandy, where things were get- 
ting worse and worse under Robert's rule, and an- 
nounced his intention of seizing the silly duke's 
dominions. Robert had already sold the Cotentin 
to Henry for a part of the five thousand pounds in 
the strong box, and after a good deal of dissension, 
and a prospect of a long and bloody war, which the 
nobles on both sides did every thing they could to 
prevent, the brothers made up their quarrel. They 
signed an agreement that the one who outlived the 
other should inherit all the lands and wealth, and 
then they made a league to go and fight Henry 
Beauclerc, who was living peaceably enough on his 
honestly-got Cotentin possessions. They chased him 
out of the country to the French Vexin, where he 
spent a forlorn year or two ; but he could afford to 
wait for his inheritance, as the Conqueror had told 
him long before. 

William Rufus went back to England, and in the 
course of time there was a war with the Scotch, who 
were defeated again and again and finally made 
quiet. Then the Welsh rebelled in their turn and 



KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 349 

were much harder to subdue. Robert got the king 
of France to join forces with him soon afterward, and 
that war was only avoided by the payment to France 
by Rufus of an enormous sum of money. 

All this time William Rufus was doing some good 
things for his kingdom and a great many more bad 
ones that there is not time to describe. After Lan- 
franc's death the king grew worse and worse ; he 
was apparently without any religious principle, and 
there was always a quarrel between him and the 
priests about the church money, which both of them 
wanted. When bishops and abbots died the king 
would not appoint their successors, and took all the 
tithes for himself. His chief favorite was a low-born, 
crafty, wicked man named Ralph Flambard, and the 
two were well matched. William Rufus had little of 
the gift for business that made his father such a 
practical statesman and organizer, and, in fact, his 
boisterous, lawless, indecent manner of living shocked 
even the less orderly of his subjects. He had the 
lower and less respectable of the Norman qualities, 
and something of the rudeness of the worst of his 
more remote ancestry crops out in his conduct. 
Once when he was very ill and was afraid that he 
was going to die with all his sins on his head, he sent 
for Anselm, the holy prior, his father's friend and 
counsellor, and appointed him to the archbishopric 
of Canterbury, which had been vacant ever since 
Lanfranc's death four years before. Rufus' guilty 
conscience was quieted, and the people of England 
were deeply thankful for such a prelate, but before 
long the king and Anselm naturally did not find 



350 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

each other harmonious, and after a brave fight for 
what he believed to be the right, Anselm appealed to 
Rome and left England with orders never to return. 
Robert was the same careless man that he had 
been in his youth ; through war and peace, danger 
and security, he lived as if there were no to-morrow 
to provide for and no future to be dreaded. I have 
sketched the course of affairs as briefly as possible in 
both England and Normandy, as if the only men 
within their borders were these two incompetent 
brothers who so ill became the Conqueror's " kingly 
helm," as Master Wace loves to call the crown. But 
the church builders were still at work like ants busy 
with their grains of sand, towers were rising, knights 
were fighting and parading, ladies were ordering their 
households, the country men and women were tilling 
the green fields of both countries and gathering in 
their harvests year by year. There had been trouble 
now and then, as we have just seen, between the 
kingdom and the duchy, between both of them and 
their border foes, but almost ten years went by, and 
the children who had played with their toys and 
sighed over their horn books the summer that Wil- 
liam the Conqueror died were now men and women 
grown. It would not seem like the old Normandy 
if the news of some new great enterprise did not run 
like wildfire through the towns and country lanes. 
The blood of the Northmen was kindled with the 
blood of all Christendom at the story of the Turks' 
capture of the Holy Sepulchre and the blessed city 
of Jerusalem. The knights of Sicily were already on 
their journey by sea and shore; the mother church 



KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 35 I 

at Rome called to her children in every land to 
defend her holiest shrines against the insolence of 
the heathen. 

Duke Robert was most zealous. To go on pil- 
grimage had been many a knight's ambition, but this 
was the greatest pilgrimage of all. Robert, as usual, 
had no money, but to his joy he succeeded in making 
a bargain with his more thrifty English brother, and 
pledged Normandy to William Rufus for five years 
for the sum of something less than seven thousand 
pounds. Away he went with his lords and gentle- 
men ; they wore white crosses on their right should- 
ers, and sang hymns as they marched along. Not 
only lords and gentlemen made up this huge proces- 
sion of thousands and thousands, but men of every 
station — from the poor cottages and stately halls 
alike. If any better persuasion had been needed 
than the simple announcement that the Turks had 
taken Jerusalem, it had come by way of Peter the 
Hermit's preaching. This had created a religious 
frenzy that the world had never known ; from town 
to town the great preacher had gone with an inex- 
haustible living stream of persuasive eloquence al- 
ways at his lips. Women wept and prayed and gave 
their jewels and rich garments, and men set their 
teeth and clenched their hands, armed themselves 
and followed him. 

England did not listen at first, and William Rufus 
chuckled over his good bargain, and taxed his un- 
willing subjects more heavily than ever to get the 
money to pay his crusader brother. England would 
listen by and by, but in this first crusade she took 



352 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

little part, while the Normans and Frenchmen and 
all their neighbors spent three years of fearful suffer- 
ing and hardship in the strange countries of the 
East ; at last they won the Holy Sepulchre. The 
Turks were still fighting to win it back again ; they 
were dangerous enemies, and the Christian host was 
dwindling fast. The cry was sent again through 
Europe for more soldiers of the Holy Cross. 

Here we come face to face again with the old vi- 
king spirit : under all the fast-increasing luxury that 
threatened to sap and dull the life of Normandy, the 
love of adventure and fierce energy of character were 
only sleeping. The most sentimental and pleasure 
loving of Robert's knights could lightly throw off 
his ribbons and gay trappings, and buckle on his 
armor when the summons came. Quickly they 
marched and fiercely they fought in the holy wars, 
and so it came about that the Norman banners were 
planted at the gates of Jerusalem and Antioch, and 
new kingdoms were planted in the East. This is not 
the place to follow the Crusaders' fortunes, or the 
part that the Norman Sicilians played in the great 
enterprise of the Middle Ages. At least it must 
make but an incident in my scheme of the Story of 
the Normans. 

There is a familiar modern sound in thebewailings 
of our old chroniclers over their taxes. Resentment 
and pathos were blended then as they are now in 
such complaints, but though William Rufus was not 
the least of such extortionate offenders, he gave 
much of the money back in fine buildings ; the 



KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 353 

famous Great Hall of Westminster was built in his 
day, and the stout wall that surrounded his father's 
Tower of London, besides a noble bridge across the 
Thames. 

When people expected unfailing generosity and gold 
thrown to the crowd oftener than in these days, it is 
difficult to see how the king could satisfy popular 
expectation without preliminary taxation. Yet the 
wails of the chroniclers go up like the chirp of the 
grasshopper. There was one mistaken scheme of 
benevolence in the endowment of charities, which 
have borne bitter fruit of pauperism ever since, for 
which taxation might well have been spared. 

William Rufus died in the year noo, in the New 
Forest. The peasants believed that it was enchanted 
and accursed, and that evil spirits flew about among 
the trees on dark and stormy nights. There was a 
superstition that it was a fated place to those who 
belonged to the Conqueror's line. Another prince 
had been killed there, named Richard, too — the son 
of Duke Robert of Normandy. 

The last year of the Red King's reign had been 
peaceful. The Witan gathered to meet him at West- 
minster and Winchester and Gloucester, and he 
reigned unchallenged from Scotland to Maine, and 
there was truce with the French king at Paris. One 
August morning he went out to the chase after a jolly 
night at one of the royal hunting-lodges. The party 
scattered in different directions, and the king and Sir 
Walter Tyrrel, a famous sportsman, were seen riding 
away together, and their dogs after them. That 
night a poor forester, a lime-burner, was going 



354 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

through the forest with his clumsy cart, and stum- 
bled over the king's body, which lay among 
the ferns with an arrow deep in the breast. He 
lifted it into the cart and carried it to Winchester, 
where it was buried next day with little sorrow. 
There were few bells tolled and few prayers said, for 
the priests owed little to any friendliness of William 
Rufus. 

There were many stories told about his death. 
Tyrrel said that the arrow was shot by an unknown 
hand, and that he had run away for fear that people 
should accuse him of the murder, which they cer- 
tainly did ! Others said that Tyrrel shot at a stag 
and the arrow glanced aside from an oak, but nobody 
knows now, and in those days too many people were 
glad that the king was dead, to ask many questions 
or to try to punish any one. 

Robert might have claimed the kingdom now 
because of the old agreement, but he was still in the 
East fighting for Jerusalem. Henry Beauclerc had 
been one of the huntsmen that fatal morning, so he 
hurried to Winchester and claimed the crown. He 
made more good promises than any of his predeces- 
sors, and the people liked him because he was 
English-born, and so they made another Norman 
king. Henry Beauclerc reigned over England thirty- 
five years, and won himself another name of the 
Lion of Justice. He did not treat his brother 
Robert justly, however he may have deserved his 
title in other ways; but he had a zoological garden 
and brought wild beasts from different quarters of 
the earth, and he fostered a famous love of learning, 



KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 35$ 

and put Ralph Flambard in the Tower as soon as he 
possibly could, and more than all, chose an excellent 
woman for his wife, Maud, the good daughter of the 
Scottish King Malcolm. He was an untruthful man, 
but a great man for all that, and made a better king 
than some that England had already endured. In 
many ways his reign was a gain to England. There 
was a distinct advance in national life, and while the 
English groaned under his tyranny they could not 
help seeing that he sought for quietness and order 
and was their best champion against the worse 
tyranny of the nobles. Mr. Freeman believes that 
the Saxon element was the permanent one in Eng- 
lish history, and that the Norman conquest simply 
modified it somewhat and was a temporary influence 
brought to bear for its improvement. It is useless 
to argue the question with such odds of learning and 
thought as his against one, but the second invasion 
of Northmen by the roundabout way of Normandy, 
seems as marked a change as the succession of the 
Celts to the Britons, or the Saxons to the Danes. 
The Normans had so distinctly made a great gain in 
ideas and civilization, that they were as much foreign- 
ers as any Europeans could have been to the Anglo- 
Saxons of that eleventh century, and their coming 
had a permanent effect, besides a most compelling 
power. It seems to me that England would have 
disintegrated without them, not solidified, and a 
warring handful of petty states have been the result. 
Yet undoubtedly through many centuries of his- 
tory writing the English of the Conqueror's day have 
been made to take too low a place in the scale of 



356 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

civilization. As a nation, they surely responded 
readily to the Norman stimulus, but the Normans 
had never found so good a chance to work out their 
own ideas of life and achievement as on English soil 
in the first hundred years after the Conquest. In 
many respects the Saxon race possesses greater and 
more reliable qualities than any other race ; stability, 
perseverance, self-government, industry are all theirs. 
Yet the Normans excelled them in their genius for 
great enterprises and their love of fitness and ele- 
gance in social life and in the arts. Indeed we can- 
not do better than to repeat here what has been 
quoted once already. " Without them England 
would have been mechanical, not artistic ; brave, not 
chivalrous ; the home of learning, not of thought." 

It has also been the fashion to ignore the influence 
of five hundred years' contact between Roman civil- 
ization and the Saxon inhabitants of Great Britain. 
Surely great influences have been brought to bear 
upon the Anglo-Saxon race. That the making of 
England was more significant to the world and more 
valuable than any manifestation of Norman ability, 
is in one way true, but let us never forget that 
much that has been best in English national life has 
come from the Norman elements of it rather than 
the Saxon. England the colonizer, England the 
country of intellectual and social progress, Eng- 
land the fosterer of ideas and chivalrous humanity, 
is Norman England, and the Saxon influence has 
oftener held her back in dogged satisfaction and 
stubbornness than urged her forward to higher 
levels. The power of holding back is necessary to 



KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 357 

the stability of a kingdom, but not so necessary as 
the 

" Glory of going on and still to be " 

The conjunction of Norman and Saxon elements has 
made England the great nation that she is. 

It is too easy as we draw near the end of this 
story of the Normans to wander into talk about the 
lessons of Norman history and to fall into endless 
generalizations. Let us look a little longer at Henry 
Beauclerc's time while Robert, under the shadow of 
his name of duke, spends enough dreary blinded 
years in prison to give him space to remember again 
and again the misspent years of his youth and his 
freedom ; while Henry plots and plans carefully for 
the continuance of his family upon the throne of 
England and Normandy, only to be disappointed at 
every turn. His son is coming from France with 
a gay company and is lost in the White Ship with 
all his lords and ladies, and the people who hear the 
news do not dare to tell the king, and at last send a 
weeping little lad into the royal presence to falter 
out the story of the shipwreck. What a touch of hu- 
manity is there ! The king never smiled afterward, 
but he plotted on and went his kingly ways, " the last 
of those great Norman kings who, with all their 
vices, their cruelty, and their lust, displayed great 
talents of organization and adaptation, guided Eng- 
land with a wise, if a strong, hand through the days 
of her youth, and by their instinctive, though selfish, 
love of order paved the way for the ultimate rise of 
a more stable, yet a freer government." 

The last Norman Duke of Normandy was really 



358 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

that young Prince William, who was drowned in the 
White Ship off the port of Barfleur, whom Henry- 
had invested with the duchy and to whom the 
nobility had just done homage. After his death, the 
son of Robert made claim to the succession, and the 
greater proportion of the Normans upheld his claim, 
and the king of France openly favored him, but 
he died of a wound received in battle, and again 
Henry, rid of this competitor, built an elaborate 
scheme upon the succession of his daughter Matilda, 
whom he married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of 
the Count of Anjou. But for all this, after the king's 
death, the law of succession was too unsettled to 
give his daughter an unquestioned claim. Heredi- 
tary title was not independent yet of election by the 
nobles, and Matilda's claims were by many people 
set aside. There were wars and disorders too intri- 
cate and dreary to repeat. Stephen, Count of Bou- 
logne, son of that Count Stephen of Blois who 
married the Conqueror's daughter Adela, usurped 
the throne of England, and there was a mis- 
erable time of anarchy in both England and Nor- 
mandy. And as the government passed away in 
this apparently profitless interregnum to the houses 
of Blois and of Anjou, so Normandy seems like 
Normandy no longer. Her vitality is turned into 
different channels, and it is in the history of England 
and of France and of the Low Countries that we 
must trace the further effect of Norman influence. 




XVIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

"I looked : aside the dust-cloud rolled, — 
The Waster seemed the Builder too ; 
Upspringing from the ruined Old 
I saw the New." 

— Whittier. 



It will be clearly seen that there is great apparent 
disproportion between certain parts of this sketch of 
the rise and growth of the Norman people. I have 
not set aside the truth that Normandy was not re- 
united to France until 1204, and I do not forget that 
many years lie between that date and the time when 
I close my account of the famous duchy. But the 
story of the growth of the Normans gives one the 
key to any later part of their history, and I have 
contented myself with describing the characters of 
the first seven dukes and Eadward the Confessor, who 
were men typical of their time and representative of 
the various types of national character. Of the 
complex questions in civic and legal history I am 
not competent to speak, nor does it seem to me 
that they properly enter into such a book as this. 
With Mr. Freeman's learned and exhaustive work at 
hand as a book of reference, the readers of this story 
of Normandy will find all their puzzles solved. 

359 



360 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

But I hope that I have made others see the Nor- 
mans as I have seen them, and grow as interested in 
their fortunes as I have been. They were the fore- 
most people of their time, being most thoroughly 
alive and quickest to see where advances might be 
made in government, in architecture, in social life. 
They were gifted with sentiment and with good 
taste, together with fine physical strength and in- 
tellectual cleverness. In the first hundred years of 
the duchy they made perhaps as rapid progress in 
every way, and had as signal influence among their 
contemporaries, as any people of any age, — unless 
it is ourselves, the people of the young republic 
of the United States, who might be called the 
Normans of modern times. For with many of the 
gifts and many of the weaknesses (and dangers, too) 
of our viking ancestry, we have repeated the rapid 
increase of power which was a characteristic of our 
Norman kindred ; we have conquered in many fights 
with the natural forces of the universe where they 
fought, humanity against humanity. Much of what 
marked the Northman and the Norman marks us 
still. 

The secret of Normandy's success was energetic 
self-development and apprehension of truth ; the 
secret of Normandy's failures was the secret of all 
failures — blindness to the inevitable effects of certain 
causes, and unwillingness to listen to her best and 
most far-seeing teachers. Carlyle said once to a 
friend : " There has never been a nation yet that did 
any thing great that was not deeply religious." The 
things that are easy and near are chosen, instead of 



CONCLUSION. 361 

the things that make for righteousness. When 
iuxury becomes not the means, but the end of life, 
humanity's best weapons grow rusty, and humanity's 
best intelliget.ee is dulled and threatens to disappear. 
The church forgets her purpose and invites wor- 
shippers of the church instead of worshippers of God. 
The state is no longer an impersonated administrator 
of justice and order, but a reservoir from which to 
plunder and by which to serve private ends. 

I am not able to speak of the influence of the 
Normans upon the later kingdom of France, the 
France of our day, as I confess the writer of such a 
book as this should have been, but there is one 
point which has been of great interest as the south- 
ward course of the Northmen has been eagerly 
followed. 

It has been the common impression that there was 
a marked growth of refinement and courtliness, of 
dignified bearing and imaginative literature con- 
nected with the development of the French men 
and women of early times, to the gradual widening 
of which the modern world had been indebted for 
much of its best social attainment. 

I think that a single glance at the France of the 
ninth and tenth centuries will do away with any be- 
lief in its having been the sole inspirer or benefactor. 
The Franks were products of German development, 
and were not at that time pre-eminent for social 
culture. They were a ruder people by far than the 
Italians or even the people of Spain, less developed 
spiritually, and wanting in the finer attributes of 
human instinct or perception. Great as they already 



362 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

were, no one can claim that quickness of tact or 
special intolerance of ill-breeding came from their 
direction. Dante speaks, a little later than this, of 
the "guzzling Germans," and though we must make 
allowance for considerable race prejudice, there was 
truth, too, in his phrase. Not from the Franks, 
therefore, but from among the very rocks and 
chasms of the viking nature, sprang a growth of 
delicate refinement that made the yellow-haired 
jarls and the " sea-kings' daughters " bring a true, 
poetical, and lovely spirit to Normandy, where 
they gave a soul to the body of art and letters 
that awaited them. Each nation had something to 
give to the other, it is true, but it was the Northern 
spirit that made the gifts of both available and fruit- 
ful to humanity. 

It may rightly be suggested that the standard of 
behavior was low everywhere in the tenth century, 
according to our present standards, but it is true that 
there was a re-kindling of light in the North, which 
may be traced in its continued reflections through 
Norway to Normandy, and thence to France and 
England and the world. We have only to remind 
ourselves of the development of literature in Iceland 
and the building of governmental and social strength 
and dignified individuality, to see that the Northmen 
by no means owed every thing to the influence of 
French superiority and precedence. We have only 
to compare the tenth century with the eleventh, to 
see what an impulse had been given. The saga- 
lovers and the clear-eyed people of the North were 
gifted with a spark of grace peculiarly their own. 



CONCLUSION. 363 

There is a pretty story told by an English traveller 
in Norway, who met a young woman leading an old 
blind beggar through the street of a poor, plain 
village. She was descended from one of the noble 
families of ancient times ; it was her pleasure and 
duty to serve the friendless old man. But the trav- 
eller insists that never, among the best people he 
has met, has he found such dignity and grace as this 
provincial woman wore, who knew nothing of courts 
or the world's elegance. There was a natural nobility 
in her speech and manner which the courtliest might 
envy, and which might adorn the noblest palace and 
be its most charming decoration. It is easy to write 
these words with sympathy, and perhaps the travel- 
ler's half-forgotten story has been embellished uncon- 
sciously with the memory in my mind of kindred 
experiences in that country of the North. Plainness 
and poverty make gentle blood seem more gracious 
still, and the green mountain-sides and fresh air of 
old Norway have not yet ceased to inspire simple, 
unperverted souls, from whose life a better and 
higher generation seems more than possible. 

The impulses that make toward social develop- 
ment are intermittent. There is the succession of 
growing time and brooding time, of summer and 
winter, in the great ages of the world. If we look 
at the Normans as creatures of a famous spring 
where Europe made a bold and profitable advance 
in every way, I think that we shall not be far from 
right. 

In telling their story in this imperfect way I have 
not been unmindful of the dark side of their charac- 



364 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

ter, but what they were is permanent, while what 
they were not was temporary. The gaps they left 
were to be rilled up by other means — by the slow 
processes by which God in nature and humanity 
evolves the best that is possible for the present with 
something that forestalls the future. The stones 
that make part of a cathedral wall are shaped also 
with relation to the very dome. 

Here, at the beginning of the Norman absorption 
into England, I shall end my story of the founding 
and growth of the Norman people. The mingling 
of their brighter, fiercer, more enthusiastic, and 
visionary nature with the stolid, dogged, prudent, 
and resolute Anglo-Saxons belongs more properly 
to the history of England. Indeed, the difficulty 
would lie in not knowing where to stop, for one may 
tell the two races apart even now, after centuries of 
association and affiliation. There are Saxon land- 
holders, and farmers, and statesmen in England yet 
— unconquered, unpersuaded, and un-Normanized. 
But the effect on civilization of the welding of the 
two great natures cannot be told fairly in this or any 
other book — we are too close to it and we ourselves 
make too intimate a part of it to judge impartially. 
If we are of English descent we are pretty sure to 
be members of one party or the other. Saxon yet 
or Norman yet, and even the confusion of the two 
forces renders us not more able to judge of either, 
but less so. We must sometimes look at England as 
a later Normandy ; and yet, none the less, as the great 
leader and personified power that she is and has been 
these many hundred years, drawing her strength 



CONCLUSION. 365 

from the best of the Northern races, and presenting 
the world with great men and women as typical of 
these races and as grandly endowed to stand for the 
representatives of their time in days to come, as the 
men and women of Greece were typical, and live yet 
in our literature and song. In the courts and stately 
halls of England, in the market-places, and among 
followers of the sea or of the drum, we have seen the 
best triumphs and glories of modern humanity, no 
less than the degradations, the treacheries, and the 
mistakes. In the great pageant of history we can 
see a nation rise, and greaten, and dwindle, and dis- 
appear like the varying lifetime of a single man, but 
the force of our mother England is not yet spent, 
though great changes threaten her, and the process 
of growth needs winter as well as summer. Her life 
is not the life of a harborless country, her fortunes 
are the fortunes of her generosity. But whether the 
Norman spirit leads her to be self-confident or head- 
strong and wilful, or the Saxon spirit holds her back 
into slowness and dulness, and lack of proper 
perception in emergencies or epochs of necessary 
change, still she follows the right direction and 
leads the way. It is the Norman graft upon the 
sturdy old Saxon tree that has borne best fruit among 
the nations — that has made the England of history, 
the England of great scholars and soldiers and 
sailors, the England of great men and women, of 
books and ships and gardens and pictures and 
songs ! There is many a gray old English house 
standing among its trees and fields, that has shel- 
tered and nurtured many a generation of loyal and 



366 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 

tender and brave and gentle souls. We shall find 
there men and women who, in their cleverness and 
courtliness, their grace and true pride and beauty, 
make us understand the old Norman beauty and 
grace, and seem to make the days of chivalry alive 
again. 

But we may go back farther still, and discover 
in the lonely mountain valleys and fiord-sides of 
Norway even a simpler, courtlier, and nobler dignity. 
In the country of the sagamen and the rough sea- 
kings, beside the steep-shored harbors of the viking 
dragon-ships, linger the constantly repeated types of 
an earlier ancestry, and the flower of the sagas 
blooms as fair as ever. Among the red roofs and 
gray walls of the Norman towns, or the faint, bright 
colors of its country landscapes, among the green 
hedgerows and golden wheat-fields of England, the 
same flowers grow in more luxuriant fashion, but 
old Norway and Denmark sent out the seed that has 
flourished in richer soil. To-day the Northman, the 
Norman, and the Englishman, and a young nation 
on this western shore of the Atlantic are all kindred 
who, possessing a rich inheritance, should own the 
closest of kindred ties. 



~<5G<^ilf*fi&SK*>° 



INDEX. 



Adela, 112 

yElfred, the Confessor's brother, 
184, 18S 

/Elfred the Great, 103, T71 ; 
fines, 173 

/Elfgifu, see Emma of Nor- 
mandy 

/Ethelred the Unready, 102, 
171 ; English contempt for, 
175 ; flees to Normandy, 177 

Alan of Brittany, 70, 126, 137 ; 
death of, 1 5 1 

Alencon, siege of, 213 ; Lord of, 
see William de Talvas 

Ambrieres, 250 

Anglo-Saxons, 106, 365 

Anjou, 35S 

Anselm, 23S, 338, 349 

Apulia, 131, 139 ; allegiance to 
Rome, 140 

Architecture, 239, 240 

Argentan, 97 

Arlette, 122 

Arnulf of Elanders, 63, 71, 87 

Arrows, 252, 307 

Ascelin, 340 

Aumale, 248 

Auxerre, 108 

Aversa, 133, 139 

Avranches, 248 

B 

Baldwin of Flanders, 121 
Battle, 304 
Baudri, 340 



Bayeux, Northmen in, 40, 59 ; 
Richard the Fearless educated 
in, 62 ; description of, 323 

Bayeux tapestry, 238, 299, 323 

Beaumont, house of, 152, 198, 
282 

Bee, abbey of, 219 

Benedictines, 222 

Berengarius, 230 

Berenger, Count of Bayeux, 40 

Bergen, 14, 291 

Bernard the Dane, 60, 61, 75 

Bernard Harcourt, 68 

Bernard de Senlis, 59, 61 ; plot 
of, 70 

Bertha, wife of Robert of 
France, 100 

Bessin, 247 

Blaatand Harold. 81 

Borbillon, 210 

Botho the Dane, 47, 60, 75 

Breteuil, castle of, 250 

Brionne, 224 

Brittany, 58 ; Danish settle- 
ments in, 61 ; enmity between 
Normandy and, 76 ; tributary 
to Normandy, 246 ; William's 
expedition against, 265 ; aids 
William, 285 

Bruce, Robert, 233 

Burgundy, 54, 246 ; king of, 80 ; 
Henry of, 106 

Burneville, 224 

C 

Caen, 113 ; William builds 
Church of St. Stephen »«, 
237 ; 29S, 321, 322, 340 



3°7 



3 68 



THE STORY OF THE N0J1MANS. 



Canterbury, archbishop of, 176 
Carloman, 85 
Carl vie, 3(10 
Cathedrals, 2ig 

Celts, 172 

Chalons, Hugh, Count of, 10S, 

no 
Charlemagne, n, 19; empire 

of, 34, 52, 88 

Charles the Fat, 54, 56 

Charles the Simple, 34 ; resists 
Rolfs invasion, 37 ; captivity 
of, 5;) 

Chartres, Count of, 38 ; siege 
of, 41, 109 

Chivalry, Norman, 93, 116 

Civitella, battle of, 140, 141 

Cloister life, 215 

Cnut the Dane, io'i, 119 ; ban- 
ishment of English nobles, 
F20 ; chosen king, 177 ; his 
improvement and England's, 
r /8 ; pilgrimage to Rome, 
1S2 ; letter of, 1S2 ; death, 183 

Cotentin, 103, 113 ; castles of, 
116 ; over-population of, 116 ; 
home of the Hautevilles, 134 ; 
rebellions, 152, 202 ; designs 
of Henry of France toward, 
247 ; men at Hastings, 306 ; 
sold by Robert of Normandy, 
343 

Coutances, bishop of, 304 

Crusades, 143, 351 

Curfew bell, 251 



D 



Danegelt, the, 173 

Danes in Bayeux, 74 ; in Eng- 
land, 103 ; inheritance from, 
in Northern England, 187 ; 
schemes for regaining Eng- 
land, 258 

Dante, 362 

Dickens' " Child's History of 
England," 328 

Dinan, 266 

Dive, river, 297 

D61, no, 206 



h family of, 233 



Domesday 15 

Douglas, Si 
Drayton, i\ 
Dreux, county of, 109 
Dunstan, 172 
Durham, 339 

E 

Eadgyth (or Edith), the Con- 
fessor's wife, 1 88, 270 

Eadgyth the Swan -throated, 310 

Eadmund Ironside, 104, 177 ; 
poisoned, 178 

Eadward the Confessor, 184 ; 
pious character of, 186 ; weak- 
ness of, 1S8, 240; likeness to 
.Ethehed, 189 ; preference for 
Normans, 191 ; promises the 
crown to William, 242 ; also to 
Harold, 257; illness and death. 
269 ; love of hunting, 329, 

Eadward the Outlaw, 257 

Eadwine, Earl of Mercia, 320 

Eadwy, 1S0 

Emma of Normandy (or .Elf- 
gifu), 102 ; marriage to /Eth- 
elred, 105; flight to Normandy 
of, 106 ; sons of, 1 1 S ; marries 
Cnut of England, 180 

England, Danes in, 103 ; low 
condition of, 106 ; under mis- 
rule of /Ethelred, 173 ; elec- 
tion of kings in, 179 ; same 
king as Denmark and Scandi- 
navia, i3i ; under Cnut, i3r ; 
behind Norman civilization, 
185 ; division into earldoms, 
187 ; building of castles in, 
193 ; conquest of, planned in 
Normandy, 240 ; Harold made 
king, 272 ; conquest of, by 
William, 30S ; English char- 
acter, 365 

Epte, St. Claire on, 44 

Eremburga, 145 

Ericson, Leif, 18 

Ermenoldus, 113 

Espriota, 66 ; second marriage, 
3o, 96, 152 



INDEX. 



3^9 



Estrith, 121, 123 

Eu, 236 

Eustace of Boulogne, 285 

Evreux, 40 

Exeter, siege of, 325 

Exmes, 97, m, 113 

F 

Falaise, 92 ; industries of, 97 ; 
Robert in, 121; the Conqueror 
in, 197 

Fecamp, 89, III, 303 

Feudal system, 54, 154 ; in Eng- 
land, 316 

Fitz-Osbern ; see William Fitz- 
Osbern. 

Flails used as weapons, 76 

Flanders, Baldwin of, 1 21 

Flanders, civilization of, 232 ; 
aids William, 285 

Fleming, Scottish families of, 233 

Forests, Norman, 95 ; English, 
330 

France, 54, 361 

Franks, 55, 361 

Freeman's (E. A.) History .of the 
Norman Conquest, 190, 205, 
224, 225, 2S0, 2S6, 355, 359 

Froissart, 323 

Fulbert the Tanner, 122 

G 

( iaul, 20 

Geirrid the Norsewoman, 7 

Geoffrey Martel, 250 ; dies, 252 

Geoffrey Fiantagenet, 358 

Gerberga, 72 ; courage of, 82-S5 

Gerberoi, 334, 337 

Germany, 54 ; sympathy fur 
Louis Outremer, 83, 361 

Gisla, 43 

Godfrey of Brittany, 101 

Godiva, Lady, 18S 

Godwine, Earl of Wessex, 1S4 ; 
character and gifts, 188 ; a 
king-maker, 18S ; influence in 
England and banishment, 192; 
returns, 244 ; remembrance of, 
in England, 315. 

Golet the Fool, 199 



Gorm of Denmark, 30, Si 

Gottfried, 19 

Grantmesnil, 19S 

Greece, typical characters of, 365 

Greenland, 16, 18 

Gregory VIE, (or Hildebrand), 
279, 285, 298 

Grimbald of Plessis, 202 ; im- 
prisonment of, 212 

Guizot's history of France, 159 

Guy of Burgundy, 199; pretends 
to the ducal crown, 200 ; 
beaten at Val-es-dunes, 210 

Gyda, 30 

Gytha, Godwine's wife, 192 

Gyrth, son of Godwine, 303 



11 



Haarfager, Harold, 15 ; king- 
dom and marriage, 30 ; tyran- 
nies of, 32 
Hainan of Thorigny, 202 
Harold Blaatand, 81, S2 
Harold Hardrada, 2SS, 290, 294 
Harold, son of Godwine, 192; 
in Ireland, 242 ; in Normandy, 
253 ; desires to succeed Ead- 
ward, 256 ; shipwrecked in 
Ponthieu, 260; received In 
William of Normandy, and 
visits him, 264 ; at Mt. St. 
Michel, 265 ; promises to 
marry one of William's daugh- 
ters, 267 ; oath on the relics, 
267 ; again in Normandy, 267 •, 
made king of England, 272 ; 
battle of Hastings, 300 
Ha Ron, 49 
Harthacnut, 170 ; becomes king, 

183 ; dies, 184 
Hasting the pirate, 38; Italian 

robberies, 130-144 
Hastings, battle of, 299 
Hauteville, Drogo of , 138 
Hauteville, Humbert of, 141 
Hauteville, Humphrey of, 13S 
Hauteville, Roger of, 143 
Hauteville, Serlon of, 130 ; bra- 
very of, 138, 141 



370 



THE STORY OF fllE XORMAXS. 



Hauteville, Tancredof, 132, 135, 

Hauteville, William of, presi- 
dent of Apulia, 139 

Hautevilles, Family of the, 236 

Hebrides, 2, 29, 50 

Henry Beauclerc, 327 ; his 
father's legacy, 339, 348; seizes 
the English crown, 354 ; death 
of his son, 357 

Henry of Burgundy, 137 

Henry of France, 197, 199 ; 
William's enemy, 202 ; God- 
wine's partisan, 244 

Herleva (or Arlette), 122 

Herluin of Bee, 223 ; becomes 
prior, 224 

Herluin of Montreuil, 81 

Hildebrand, archdeacon, see 
Gregory VII. 

Hugh Capet, 63, 88, 98 

Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, 

56. 63. 153 

I 

Iceland, colonization of, 16, 32 ; 
expedition to England from, 
291 ; literature, 32, 92, 362 

Italy, 54 

J 

Jersey, island of, 93 

Jerusalem, Robert's pilgrimage 
to, 126 

Jumieges, 35 

K 

Kent, 288, 290 

Knighthood, 156; oaths of, 161 
L 

Land-holding, Norman system 
of, 46 

Lanfranc, 219, 226 ; met by pil- 
grims, 231 ; brings about 
William's marriage, 237 ; Wil- 
liam's ally, 279 ; Bishop of 
Canterbury, 320 

Laon, castle of, 72 

Leo, Pope of Rome, 235, 236 

Leofric, 188 ; grandsons of, 258 

Leslies, Scottish family of, 233 

Lillebonne, 282 



Lisieux, 247, 252 

Lisle, Baldwin de, 233 

London, 177, 192, 302 

Long Serpent, 12 

Longsword, see William Long- 
sword 

Lorraine, 54 

Lothair, 86 

Louis Outremer, 71 ; in Rouen, 
77 ; loses the battle with 
Normandy, 82 ; death of, 86 

M 

Maine, Count of, 280 

Malcolm, 288 

Mantes, 377 

Matilda of Flanders, 233 ; mar- 
ries William of Normandy, 
237 ; builds Church of the 
Holy Trinity in Caen, 238 ; 
influence in Normandy, 245 ; 
gives William a ^hip, 20,8 ; 
rules Normandy in his ab- 
sence, 325 ; favors her son 
Robert, 334 ; dies, 335 

Mauger, 90 ; Archbishop of 
Rouen, 112, 124; opposition 
to William and Matilda's mar- 
riage, 236 ; dismissal of, by 
William, 251 

Mauritius, 238 

Mercia, 187 

Michael, Emperor of Constanti- 
nople, 128 

Mirmande, III 

Monasticism, 215 ; value of, to 
Normandy, 230 

Montgomery, house of, 152 

Morkere, 288, 320 

Mortain, Count of, 282 

Mortemer, battle of, 248 

Mount St. Michel, 265 

N 

Navarre, 54 

Neal of St. Saviour, 201 ; at 
Val-es-dunes, 208 ; goes to 
Brittany, 202 ; at Hastings, 
306 



INDEX. 



371 



Neustria, 35, 79 

Normandy, Rolf's voyage to, 29, 

34 ; formerly called Neustria, 

35 ; independence of, 44 ; 
division of, 46 ; improvement 
of, 47 ; loyalty to France, 57 ; 
relations with France, 60 ; 
holds its own against Louis 
Outremer, 82 ; first money 
coined in, 84 ; the Norman 
character, 91 ; manufactures 
of, 92 ; chivalry in, 93 ; at- 
tacked by /Ethelred, 103 ; 
changes in, 115 ; Christianity 
in, 118 ; social progress of, 
132 ; colonies in Southern 
Italy, 133 ; feudalism in, 153 ; 
knighthood of, 156 ; churches 
of, 168 ; plague in, 169 ; 
^Ethelred escapes to, 177 ; 
state of religion in, 217 ; archi- 
tecture, 239, 240 ; enmity be- 
tween Flanders and, 245 ; 
victory at Mortemer, 248 ; 
craftiness of, 250 ; victory 
ta Varaville, 252 ; Harold in, 
268 ; governed by William ami 
Lanfranc, 279 ; preparation for 
war in, 295 ; wins the battle 
of Hastings, 300 ; influence of 
Norman character, 356-360 

Norman women, 323, 326 
Northmen, voyages of, 4 ; litera- 
ture of. 9 ; arts of the, 11 ; 
ship-building of, i2;inBayeux, 

59 
Norway, coast of, I ; metals in, 
4 ; home-life in, 6 ; reputation 
of, 9 ; ships of, 12-14 ; colo- 
nies of, 19 ; women in, 23 ; 
pirates, 26 ; Haarfager's gov- 
ernment of, 30 



O 



Odo of Bayeux, 2S2, 304, 323 ; 
made Earl of Kent, 324 ; 
Italian plot, 336 ; release from 
prison, 339 ; plots of, 347 

Odo of France, 247 



Olaf of Norway, 109, 175 
Ordericus Yitalis, chronicle- of, 

334. 337 
Orknevs, 1, 30, 293 
0*lac,'6o 

Osmond de Centevillt, 72 
Otho William, 107 
Otto of Germany, 86 



Palermo, 146 

Palgrave, Sir Francis, 89, 91 
Paris, plundering of, 19, 40 ; 
borders of Normandy near, 

125 

Pavia, Lanfranc born in, 226 

Peasantry, Norman, 93 ; com- 
plaint of, 95 ; parliament of 
and commune, 96 ; in Eng- 
land, 330 

Peter the Hermit, 351 

Pevensey, 299 

Philip, King of France, 337 

Poictiers, 246 

Ponthieu, 246 ; Harold ship- 
wrecked in, 260 ; William's 
ships sail for, 297 

Pupa, 43, 45, 60 

Pyrenees, 246 

Q 



Quevilly, 275 



K 



Ragnar Lodbrok, 25 

Rainulf of Ferrieres, 68 

Ralph Flambard, 349 

Ralph of Tesson, 206 

Ralph of Toesny, 249 

Randolph of Bayeux, 202 

Raoul of Ivry, 96 ; against the 
peasants, 97, 98 

Ravens, black, 15 

Renaud, 110 

Richard of Evreux, 282 

Richard the Fearless, 62 ; boy- 
hood of, 66 ; made duke, 68 ; 
sent to Laon, 71 ; charters of, 
84 ; death of, 89 



THE STORY OF THE XOAW.I .VS. 



Richard the Good, 90; character 
<pf, 02 ; unruly subjects of, 96 ; 
first peer of F ranee, 99 ; mar- 
riage of, IOI ; war with Bur- 
gundy, 1(^6, with Dreux, 108 ; 
death at Fecamp, 1 r 1 

Richard the Third I Hike, no; 
becomes duke, 112; is poi- 
soned, 113 

Robert Curt-hose, 333 ; inherits 
Normandy, 339. 345 ; his 
character, 350 ; goes on pil- 
grimage, 351 ; imprisonment, 

357 
Robert of Eu, 2S2 

Robert of France, 98 ; wit of, 

99 
Robert Guiscard, 134 ; reaches 
Anialfi, 141 ; becomes duke, 

142 
Robert of [umieges, 193 

Robert the Magnificent, 112; 
bad name of, 114; enemy of 
England, 11S; marries the 
tanner's daughter, 122; goes 
on pilgrimage, 125 ; dies, 129 

Robert the Staller, 273, 300 

Roger of Beaumont, 2S2, 322 

Roger of Toesny, 195 ; colony 
in Spain, 196 

Rognwald, Jail, of More, 31, 44 

Rolf Ganger, ships, eg ; profes- 
sion, 32 ; siege of Rouen, 35 ; 
good government, 4t ; made 
duke, 42 ; christened, 45 ; 
married Gisla, 45 ; death, 50; 
tomb at Rouen, typical char- 
acter, 53 ; tower in Rouen, 
73 ; hall in Rouen, I2r ; 
Cnut's likeness to, 157 ; 278. 
282, 306 

Romance language, 55 

Roman deRou, 94, 112, 204, 209, 
267, 340 

Roman roads, 92 

Rome, Church of, 118 

Rouen, 20 ; siege r>(, 35 ; Rolf's 
wedding in, 45 ; Rolfs palace 
in, 50 ; Richard the Fearless' 
coronation in, 69 ; ruins in, 



86 ; reception of William and 

Matilda in, 236 
Rudolph of Burgundy, 57 
Rye, castle of, 200 

S 
Sagamen, 8 

Sandwich, 288 

Salle, 212 

Sanglac, battle of, T04 

Saxons, 287 

Scandinavian peninsula, 1-3 

Sea-kings, 9 

Senlac, 304, 309 

Shakespeare, 91 

Sicily, 131, 139 ; Norman ruins, 

in, T45 ; aids William, 285 ; 

crusades of, 350 
Siward of Northumberland, 25S 
Slavery, William's suppression 

of, 332 
Spain, 20, 25, 306 
Sperling, So, r52 
Stamford Bridge, battle of, 293, 

298, 305 
Stephen of Blois, 358 
Stephen of Boulogne, 358 
Stigand, 273 
St. Michel's Mount, ior 
Sturlesson, Snorro, 2S 
St. Valery, 297 
Sussex, 258, 290, 299 
Swegen, King of Denmark, 175 



Taillefer the minstrel, 306 
Taxes, 352 
Tennyson, Lord, 28 
Terra Regis, 31S 
Thurkill the sacristan, 303 
Tillieres, 109; siege of, 136 

castle of, 250 
Tostig, 2S7, 292 
Truce of God, 165 
Turf-Einar, 32 



Val-es-dunes, battle of, 205 
changes since, 247 



INDEX. 



373 



Yalmeray, 205 

Valognes, William's escape from, 

199 
Varaville, battle of, 251 
Vaudreuil, 152 
Venerable Bede, the, 218 
Venosa (tomb of the Haute- 

villes), 146 
Vermandois, Count of, 56; death 

of, 63 
Vexin, district of the, 125, 337, 

34S. 
Vigr, island of, 29 
Vikings, 9, 366 
Vinland, 18 



W 



Wace, Master, 112, see Roman 

dc Ron. 
Walter Giffard, 2S2 
Walter Tyrrel, 353 
Walthain, abbey of, 254, 303 
Waltheof, 320 
Westminster, igi, 2G9, 302, 311, 

314. 353 

Wight, isle of, 28S ; Odo's ren- 
dezvous in, 336 

William the Conqueror, 104, 
114; father of, 116; mother 
of, 122 ; homage of barons to, 
126 ; typical character of, 
149 ; purity of life, 167 ; 
Roger of Toesny an enemy 
to, 196 ; Guy of Burgundy's 
rebellion, 199 ; not a man of 
blood in a certain sense, 211 ; 
mastery in Normandy, 213 ; 
revenge upon Alencon, 214 ; 
meets Lanfranc, 229 ; marries 
Matilda, 237 ; goes to Eng- 
land, 242 ; receives news of 
Harold's shipwreck, 260; at 
Chateau d'Eu, 264 ; hears of 
Harold's coronation, 275 ; em- 



bassy to Harold, 280 ; coun- 
cil at Lillebonne, 2S2 ; at 
Hastings, 299 ; inarch to Lon- 
don, 313 ; coronation at West- 
minster, 314 ; government of 
England, 316 ; returns t< 
Normandy in triumph, 321 , 
at Mantes, 337 ; last illness 
and death, 337 
William Fitz-Osbern, 250; at 
Rouen palace, 262 ; at Que- 
villy, 277, 282 ; at Lillebonne, 
284 ; made Count of Here- 
ford, 324 
William of Jumieges, 112 
William Longsword, his youth, 
43 ; education of, 56 ; his 
wife, 56 ; lands in Brittany, 
5S ; politics of, 60 ; govern- 
ment of, 62 ; death, 63 ; char- 
acter, of, 64 ; lingering enmity 
toward Flanders caused by 
hi-* murder, 245 
William Malet, 310 
William of Malmesbury, 331 
William Rufus, 338 ; inherits 
the English crown, 339 ; goes 
to England, 345 ; is murdered, 
353 ; is buried at Winchester, 

353 
William, son of Richard the 

Fearless, 97 
William de Talvas, 124; the 

bastard's enemy, 152 ; rebels 

against William, 213 
William of Warren, 282 
Witanagemot, 270, 275, 280, 

317. 353 
Women of Normandy, IOI, 323, 

326 

y 

Yonge, Miss (Story of The Littk 

Duke), 85 
York, 292 



The Story of the Nations. 



MESSRS. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure in 
announcing that they have in course of publication, in 
co-operation with Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, of London, a 
series of historical studies, intended to present in a graphic 
manner the stories of the different nations that have 
attained prominence in history. 

In the story form the current of each national life is 
distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy 
periods and episodes are presented for the reader in their 
philosophical relation to each other as well as to universal 
history. 

It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes to 
enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring them 
before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and 
struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as they amused 
themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with 
which the history of all lands begins, will not be over- 
looked, though these will be carefully distinguished from 
the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted 
historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions. 

The subjects of the different volumes have been planned 
to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive 
epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will 
present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in 
the great Story of the Nations ; but it is, of course, 
not always practicable to Issue the several volumes in 
their chronological order. 



The "Stones" are printed in good readable type, and 
in handsome i2mo form. They are adequately illustrated 
and furnished with maps and indexes. Price, per vol., 
cloth, $1.50. Half morocco, gilt top, $1.75. 

The following are now ready : 



GREECE. Prof. Jas. A. Harri- 
son. 

ROME. Arthur Gilman. 

THE JEWS. Prof. James K. 
Hosmer. 

CHALDEA. Z. A. Ragozin. 

GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould. 

NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boye- 
sen. 

SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan 
Hale. 

HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vambery. 

CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. 
Church. 

THE SARACENS. Arthur Gil- 
man. 

THE MOORS IN SPAIN. 
Stanley Lane-Poole. 

THE NORMANS. Sarah Orne 
Jewett. 

PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. 

ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. Geo. 
Rawlinson. 

ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. 
Prof. J. P. Mahaffy. 

ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 

THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. 

IRELAND. Hon. Emily Law- 
less. 

TURKEY. Stanley Lane- 
Poole. 

MEDIA, BABYLON, AND 
PERSIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 

MEDIAEVAL FRANCE. Prof. 
Gustave Masson. 

HOLLAND. Prof. J. Thorold 
Rogers. 

MEXICO. Susan Hale. 

PHOENICIA. Geo. Rawlinson. 

THE HANSA TOWNS. Helen 
Zimmern. 

EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Al- 
free J. Church. 



THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. 
Stanley Lane-Poole. 

RUSSIA. W. R. Morfill. 

THE JEWS UNDER ROME. 
W. D. Morrison. 

SCOTLAND. John Mackin- 
tosh. 

SWITZERLAND. R. Stead 
and Mrs. A. Hug. 

PORTUGAL. H. Morse Ste- 
phens. 

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 
C. W. C. Oman. 

SICILY. E. A. Freeman. 

THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS. 
Bella Duffy. 

POLAND. W. R. Morfill. 

PARTHIA. Geo. Rawlinson. 
'JAPAN. David Murray. 

THE CHRISTIAN RECOV- 
ERY OF SPAIN. H. E. 
Watts. 

AUSTRALASIA. GrevilleTre- 
garthen. 

SOUTHERN AFRICA. Geo. 
M. Theal. 

VENICE. Alethea Wiel. 

THE CRUSADES. T. S. 
Archer and C. L. Kingsford. 

VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 

BOHEMIA. C. E. Maurice. 

CANADA. J. G. Bourinot. 

THE BALKAN STATES.. 
William Miller. 

BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 
R. W. Frazer. 

MODERN FRANCE. Andr< 
Le Bon. 

THE BUILDING OF THE 
BRITISH EMPIRE. Al- 
fred T. Story. 



Heroes of the Nations, 



EDITED BY 



EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., 

Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. 



A Series of biographical studies of the lives and work 
of a number of representative historical characters about 
whom have gathered the great traditions of the Nations 
to which they belonged, and who have been accepted, in 
many instances, as types of the several National ideals. 
With the life of each typical character will be presented 
a picture of the National conditions surrounding him 
during his career. 

The narratives are the work of writers who are recog- 
nized authorities on their several subjects, and, while 
thoroughly trustworthy as history, will present picturesque 
and dramatic " stories " of the Men and of the events con- 
nected with them. 

To the Life of each " Hero " will be given one duo- 
decimo volume, handsomely printed in large type, pro- 
vided with maps and adequately illustrated according to 
the special requirements of the several subjects. The 
volumes will be sold separately as follows : 

Large 12°, cloth extra $150 

Half morocco, uncut edges, gilt top . . I 75 



The following are now ready : 



Nelson, and the Naval Supremacy of England. By W. Clark Russell, author A 

" The Wreck of the Grosvenor," etc. 
Gustavus Adolphus and the Struggle of Protestantism for Existence. By C R. 

L. Fletcher, M.A., late Fellow of All Souls College. 
Pericles, and the Golden Age of Athens. By Evelyn Abbott, M.A. 
Theodoric the Goth, the Barbarian Champion of Civilisation. By Thomas 

Hodgkin, author of " Italy and Her Invaders," etc. 
Sir Philip Sidney, and the Chivalry of England. By H. R. Fox Bourne, auth 

of " The Life of John Locke,"'etc. 
Julius Caesar, and the Organisation of the Roman Empire. By W. Ward 

Fowler, M.A., Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. 
John Wyclif, Last of the Schoolmen a:>d First of the English Reformers, By 

Lewis Sergeant, author of " New Greet e," etc. 
Napoleon, Warrior and Ruler, and the Military Supremacy of Revolutionary 

France. By W. O'Connor Morris. 
Henry of Navarre, and the Huguenots of France. By P. F. Willert, M.A., Fet 

low of Exeter College, Oxford. 
Cicero, and the Fall of the Roman Republic. By J. L. Strachan-Davidson, M.A 

Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. 
Abraham Lincoln, and the Downfall of American Slavery. By Noah 3rooks. 
Prince Henry (of Portugal) the Navigator, and the Age of Discovery. By C. R. 

Beazley, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. 
Julian the Philosopher, and the Last Struggle of Paganism against Christianity. 

By Alice Gardner. 
Louis XIV., and the Zenith of the French Monarchy. By Arthur Hassall, 

M.A., Senior Student of Christ Church College, Oxford. 
Charles XII., and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire, 1682-1719. By R. Nisbet 

Bain. 
Lorenzo de' Medici, and Florence in the 15th Century. By Edward Armstrong, 

M.A., Fellow of Queens's College, Oxford. 
Jeanne d'Arc. Her Life and Death. By Mrs. Oliphant. 
Christopher Columbus. His Life and Voyages. By Wachingyon Irving. 
Robert the Bruce, and the Struggle for Scott i«h I independence. By Sir Herbert 

Maxwell, M.P. 
Hannibal, Soldier, Statesman. Patriot ; and the Crisis of the Struggle between 

Carthage and Rome. By W. O'Connor Morris, Sometime Scholar of Oriel Col- 
lege, Oxford. 
Ulysses S. Grant, and the Period of National Preservation and Reconstruction, 

1822-1885. By Lieut.-Col. William Conant Church. 
Robert E. Lee, and the Southern Confederacy, 1807-1870. By Prof. Henry 

Alexander White, of the Washington and Lee University. 
The Cid Campeador, and the Waning of the Crescent in the West. By H. 

Butler Clarke, Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. 

To be followed by : 

Moltke, and the Military Supremacy of Germany. By Spencer Wilkinson, Lon- 
don University. 

Bismarck. The New German Empire, How it Arose and What it Displaced. 
By W. J. Headlam, M.A., Fellow of King's Collage. 

Judas Maccabaeus, the Conflict between Hellenism and Hebraism. By J}*ael 
Abrahams, author of the " Jews of the Middle Ages." 

Henry V., the English Hero King. By Charles L. Kingsf. ■-, joint-author of the 
•* Story of the Crusades." 




G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. NEg-Ymwir amp London. 









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